The end of Berlusconi Hallelujah

The end of Berlusconi

Hallelujah

Nov 13th 2011, 11:25 by J.H. | ROME

NOT since Silvio Berlusconi's erstwhile political sponsor, Bettino Craxi, fled to Tunisia to avoid being jailed for corruption, has an Italian prime minister left office in such humiliated fashion. Last night, after finally resigning, Mr Berlusconi slipped out of a side door of the president's palace to dodge a raucous mob. The media and property magnate ended his fourth government, and very probably his career in politics, to cries of “buffoon”, “Mafioso” and “face trial”.

The crowd, over a thousand strong, that gathered outside the old residence of the popes on the Quirinal hill was largely good-humoured. Every so often, as it waited for Mr Berlusconi's arrival, a choir would burst into a rendition of the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's "Messiah". But when his limousine eventually turned up, Mr Berlusconi was left in no doubt about the anger and loathing that many Italians feel towards him. And when the news that he had finally stepped down filtered out of his meeting with President Giorgio Napolitano, there was an explosive roar of delight.

Mr Berlusconi should not be surprised. According to a poll conducted on November 4th and 5th for Sky Italia television, 71% of Italians favoured his early resignation. His personal approval rating in a poll at the end of last month for the daily La Repubblica was just 22%. He is seen by many as the man who partied and exposed Italy to international ridicule while the country slipped towards the abyss.

This morning Mario Monti, the former European commissioner who many expect to succeed Mr Berlusconi, emerged from his hotel to find a group of reporters waiting for him. “Have you seen what a splendid day it is?” he asked them.

By the time Mr Monti* and his wife set off to attend mass in a local church, Mr Napolitano had already begun the consultations with party leaders that are required in Italy for the formation of a new government. This is usually a leisurely process, lasting a week or more. But such is the urgency, in the week after the interest rate on Italy's sovereign debt shot above 7%, that the head of state was intending to cram the meetings into a single day. The aim is to have Mr Monti and his government in place before European markets reopen tomorrow morning.

Most observers expect that Mr Monti's cabinet will be made up almost exclusively of technocrats without party allegiance, a solution reminiscent of governments of national salvation conjured at times of crisis in what were once called "third world" nations. The only name familiar to most Italians among those being touted is that of Giuliano Amato, who has been tipped for the foreign ministry. Mr Amato, a socialist, is a familiar player at times of national stress. He was prime minister from 1992 to 1993 when Italy's corrupt, post-war political order was disintegrating, and again from 2000 to 2001 when the centre-left was in crisis and about to lose power to Mr Berlusconi.

Of more interest to investors will be the name of the finance minister. The clever money is on Guido Tabellini, the rector of Milan's business-oriented Bocconi University. Analysts will also want to know what attitude Mr Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PdL) party will take to the new government. The PdL is still the biggest party in parliament, with around 250 of the 630 seats in the lower house. But it has been deeply split by the prospect of a Monti administration. Many of its legislators wanted new elections instead (polls suggest that, notwithstanding the electorate's rejection of Mr Berlusconi, the right could win again).

As a way of holding the party together, PdL representatives at the talks with Mr Napolitano are likely to press for the new government to be given a limited mandate to implement only a set of reforms and deficit-reduction measures agreed with the European Union. These were approved by the lower house yesterday in an emergency session that cleared the way for Mr Berlusconi's departure.

The PdL may also lobby for the Monti cabinet to be given a fixed, short life-span, and perhaps even for Mr Berlusconi's right-hand man, Gianni Letta, to be given a ministerial job. Whether they still have the clout to get what they want remains to be seen.

(Photo credit: AFP)

Read more: See Silvio Berlusconi's career as told through Economist covers, or read ourfull coverage of the euro-zone crisis

* Owing to an editing error an earlier version of this piece mistakenly said Mr Napolitano had attended mass, rather than Mr Monti.

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