ITALY: Mixed reactions to Italian president's decision to ask Prodi to stay on as prime minister.

There have been mixed reactions after the Italian president asked Romano Prodi to stay on as prime minister in hope of ending a political crisis which forced Prodi to resign this week after losing a parliamentary vote on foreign policy. Romano Prodi returned to his prime ministerial office on Saturday (February 24) to a mixture of cheers and angry shouts of 'go home' following a decision by the Italian president to ask him to stay on as prime minister. Prodi appeared at ease and smiled and waved to a small crowd of mainly journalists gathered outside his office, but he will have little time to celebrate as he prepares for a confidence vote in the parliament expected next week. Prodi must now win a vote before both the upper and lower houses of parliament to show that he has enough support to govern. "Firstly we need to see if he actually has the numbers in the parliament," said spokesman for the National Alliance opposition party Andrea Ronchi. Opposition parties had hoped President Giorgio Napolitano would dismiss Prodi's government and call for new elections, and were disappointed with the president's decision to ask Prodi to stay. "We think this is a choice which will continue the decline of our country," Ronchi said. "Prodi hasn't governed, he hasn't known how to govern, he doesn't have a majority vote on his foreign policy and therefore this government will not do any good for Italy," he added. Over the past two days, President Napolitano had consulted all political leaders on how to resolve the crisis. Prodi's allies asked that he be given a second chance to show he can command a majority in parliament, while former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called for fresh elections. "I wanted elections straight away," said supporter of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, Rome resident Rita de Sibbi. Napolitano said on Saturday most parties had agreed that the electoral law needed to be modified before new polls can be held and that there was no consensus on forming a broad-based, interim government with the support of the opposition. Even following the decision that Prodi should try once again to win a majority and stay in power, some of his own supporters amongst the public appeared unconvinced that his government would last long. "I think we are still in the midst of a crisis, I had hoped this government would resolve something but now I am very, very disillusioned," said Prodi supporter Tiziana Tomassetti.

ITN Source | February 24, 2007

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