Italy government at risk, says Umberto Bossi
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Date: 10/25/2011 6:39:53 AM
Sender: BBC
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Italy government at risk,says Umberto Bossi
Italy＇s government could fall because of disagreements over economic reforms, one of Silvio Berlusconi＇s coalition partners has warned.
Silvio Berlusconi is under increasing pressure from Brussels and his own political allies
Northern League leader Umberto Bossi said the government was "at risk" and the country faced a "dangerous time".
His party, the main coalition partner, has rejected proposals to increase the pension age to 67 years.
Mr Berlusconi＇s EU partners are demanding concrete action by Wednesday to reassure markets.
＇Dramatic time＇
Eurozone leaders are due to hold a summit in Brussels on Wednesday to devise a strategy to confront the area＇s worsening debt crisis.
They are expected to agree a plan to reduce Greece＇s debt burden, strengthen European banks to withstand bond losses and scale up the eurozone rescue fund.
At a meeting over the weekend, Mr Berlusconi was publicly reproached by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel who said that it was vital for Italy＇s public debt "to be reduced in a credible manner in the coming years".
Italy, the third largest economy in the eurozone, needs to issue some 600bn euros (£520bn; $835bn) in bonds over the next three years to refinance maturing debt.
Raising the retirement age is one of the key economic reforms demanded by the country＇s EU partners as a condition for supporting Italy＇s bonds.
But Mr Bossi dismissed the idea, saying: "I＇m not touching our pensions, which are fine, to bring up the age to 67 just to please the Germans."
He has also dismissed the idea of a government of technocrats being installed to push through reforms.
"The government is at risk," Mr Bossi told reporters in parliament on Tuesday. "The situation is difficult, very dangerous. This is a dramatic time," he said.
As the coalition parties held separate meetings, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said in a statement that the country must do everything to reduce the risk to government bonds by making its determination to cut public debt more credible.
For the first time, Silvio Berlusconi has also raised the possibility that he might step down from the political stage after dominating Italian politics for 17 years.
"I hope the conditions arise where I can leave the responsibility of the presidency to others, perhaps remaining within the party as its founding father," Mr Berlusconi is reported as saying, according to La Repubblica newspaper.
"Whatever happens I will do what my party and the coalition ask of me."
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