Italy PM Disses Berlusconi, Won't Run Again

Says logic of former PM 'escapes me'
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 23, 2012 6:14 AM CST
Italy PM Disses Berlusconi, Won't Run Again
Italian Premier Mario Monti speaks during a news conference in Rome, Sunday, Dec. 23, 2012.   (Mauro Scrobogna)

Italy's caretaker Premier Mario Monti said today 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 "evaluate the offer." Monti ruled out heading any ticket himself, saying "I have no sympathy for 'personal' parties"—a clear dig at Silvio Berlusconi's offer for him to head a center-right ticket. Monti's decision ends weeks of speculation that have dominated Italian politics and preoccupied Europe, which is eager to see Monti's financial reforms continue.

Monti said Berlusconi's flipping back and forth between condemning the government's economic policies and then praising him convinced him that "I couldn't accept his offer." Berlusconi's logic "escapes me," he said, to laughter. Monti stepped down Friday after Berlusconi's party withdrew its support from his technical government, but has been asked stay on in a caretaker capacity in the run-up to Feb. 24-25 elections. But he left the door open to another stint as PM, "If one or more political forces is credibly backing (Monti's) agenda or even has a better one." (More Mario Monti stories.)

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