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| Italian Premier Says He’d Consider Another Term | Italian Premier Says He’d Consider Another Term |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| ROME — Mario Monti, the economist chosen as a stopgap prime minister of Italy after the collapse of Silvio Berlusconi’s government last November, said Thursday that he would consider staying on for another term in office if elections scheduled for next spring do not produce a strong majority for any party coalition. | |
| Mr. Monti said he hoped that the voting would yield a “clear result” and a “government led by a political leader.” But opinion polls now indicate that the elections may yield another deadlock, and if that happens, Mr. Monti said, he would think about leading another government if asked. “I will consider, I cannot preclude anything,” he said at a seminar at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. | Mr. Monti said he hoped that the voting would yield a “clear result” and a “government led by a political leader.” But opinion polls now indicate that the elections may yield another deadlock, and if that happens, Mr. Monti said, he would think about leading another government if asked. “I will consider, I cannot preclude anything,” he said at a seminar at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. |
| It is the first time that Mr. Monti, a former European Union commissioner, has publicly mentioned the possibility of remaining prime minister after the election. When he was appointed after the conservative Berlusconi government fell under intense financial and market pressures, his mandate was to form a nonpartisan cabinet of experts, pass austerity measures, hold elections, hand off to the winner and step back. | It is the first time that Mr. Monti, a former European Union commissioner, has publicly mentioned the possibility of remaining prime minister after the election. When he was appointed after the conservative Berlusconi government fell under intense financial and market pressures, his mandate was to form a nonpartisan cabinet of experts, pass austerity measures, hold elections, hand off to the winner and step back. |
| Mr. Monti made clear on Thursday that any future involvement he had in government would also be nonpolitical in nature. | Mr. Monti made clear on Thursday that any future involvement he had in government would also be nonpolitical in nature. |
| His current government is supported by a broad coalition of political parties that would ordinarily oppose one another, and Mr. Monti said that he had purposefully not aligned himself with any party so as not to destabilize “the smooth functioning of the government.” He said he would consider a new mandate only if the political parties asked it of him; as a senator for life, he has no need to run for election. | |
| To restore market confidence, over the past 10 months in office Mr. Monti’s government has tackled a number of measures meant to rein in Italy’s high public debt and extract the country from the economic stagnation it has suffered for years. Its nonpartisan nature allowed it to pass measures that have remained stalled in wrangling under ordinary partisan politics. | To restore market confidence, over the past 10 months in office Mr. Monti’s government has tackled a number of measures meant to rein in Italy’s high public debt and extract the country from the economic stagnation it has suffered for years. Its nonpartisan nature allowed it to pass measures that have remained stalled in wrangling under ordinary partisan politics. |
| Public confidence in Italy’s political leaders has been eroded in recent months by a series of scandals, mostly at the regional level of government, involving political parties of every stripe. A poll published by the Milan daily newspaper Corriere della Sera on Sunday indicated that nearly 50 percent of Italian voters were undecided or planned not to vote in the next elections, which will most likely be held in April 2013. About 14 percent of respondents said they were inclined to support fringe parties and protest movements that disparage the mainstream political class. None of the major parties drew enough support in the poll to form a government. | Public confidence in Italy’s political leaders has been eroded in recent months by a series of scandals, mostly at the regional level of government, involving political parties of every stripe. A poll published by the Milan daily newspaper Corriere della Sera on Sunday indicated that nearly 50 percent of Italian voters were undecided or planned not to vote in the next elections, which will most likely be held in April 2013. About 14 percent of respondents said they were inclined to support fringe parties and protest movements that disparage the mainstream political class. None of the major parties drew enough support in the poll to form a government. |