Italian Premier Mario Monti gestures as he speaks during a news conference in Rome, Sunday, Dec. 23, 2012. Italy's caretaker Premier Mario Monti said Sunday he won't run in February elections, but if political parties that back his anti-crisis agenda ask him to head the next government he would consider the offer. Monti ruled out heading any ticket himself, saying "I have no sympathy for 'personal' parties." At a news conference, Monti made clear he was spurning an offer from his predecessor Silvio Berlusconi to run on a center-right election ticket backed by the media mogul, citing Berlusconi's heavy criticism of his economic policies. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Monti says he is open to leading next government
Italian Premier Mario Monti gestures as he speaks during a news conference in Rome, Sunday, Dec. 23, 2012. Italy's caretaker Premier Mario Monti said Sunday he won't run in February elections, but if political parties that back his anti-crisis agenda ask him to head the next government he would consider the offer. Monti ruled out heading any ticket himself, saying "I have no sympathy for 'personal' parties." At a news conference, Monti made clear he was spurning an offer from his predecessor Silvio Berlusconi to run on a center-right election ticket backed by the media mogul, citing Berlusconi's heavy criticism of his economic policies. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
By FRANCES D'EMILIO
Associated Press /
December 24, 2012
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Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano dissolved Parliament after Monti resigned Friday following approval of the country’s national budget law. Monti noted that as a senator-for-life, he remains in Parliament and doesn’t need to run for a seat in the legislature.
Voter opinion polls indicate a centrist ticket backing Monti would take about 15 percent of the vote, meaning any government he heads would need support from either of Italy’s two largest political groupings: the center-right, led by Berlusconi, or the center-left, led by Pier Luigi Bersani.
After Monti’s announcement Sunday, Bersani, whose forces turned out to be Monti’s staunchest proponent this past year, vowed to keep up the premier’s anti-crisis efforts.
By declining to directly campaign for February’s balloting, Monti avoids a direct clash with him. On Sunday, Monti would only would say that Bersani is a highly ‘‘legitimate candidate for premier of a coalition.’’
In an interview on state TV later Sunday, Monti declined to say if he thought his agenda would get more backing from Bersani’s or from Berlusconi’s supporters.
Some had speculated that Monti had his sights set on the Italian presidency, since Napolitano’s term ends this spring. But Monti ruled that out.
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