Italy's Monti expected to resign as MPs debate budget

Mario Monti is expected to resign as Italian prime minister shortly, keeping a promise to step down as soon as his budget is passed by parliament.

MPs are debating the 2013 budget drawn up by his government and may approve it before the end of Friday.

Mr Monti is due to give a news conference on Sunday, at which he may announce whether he will stand in forthcoming parliamentary elections.

He was brought in to form a technocratic government last year.

However, the conservative People of Freedom party of his predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi, withdrew its support for his cabinet this month.

Mr Berlusconi, a three-time prime minister already, is fighting his sixth election campaign.

The new political uncertainty in Italy, the third-biggest economy in the eurozone, has unsettled investors.

'Undecided'

Once the budget is passed by the Chamber of Deputies, President Giorgio Napolitano can order parliament to be dissolved. Analysts believe the most likely date of the ballot will be 24 February.

Opinion polls suggest the centre-left Democratic Party will win the largest share of the vote.

The economist and former European commissioner cannot stand for election himself as he is already a senator for life but he could theoretically return as a minister, perhaps as unofficial leader of a centrist coalition.Since taking office with his non-party team of ministers, Mr Monti has been implementing economic austerity measures and argues that his spending cuts and tax hikes have staved off disaster.

"Those closest to him say he has not yet decided and do not rule out a surprise decision," the Italian daily Corriere Della Sera said.

"Slowly, as the hours pass, the largest parties which supported Monti begin to see him as a potential adversary."

On Thursday, Mr Monti, 69, defended the "bitter medicine" of budgetary discipline, in what appeared to be a response to attacks by Mr Berlusconi on austerity policies.

Mr Monti told workers at the Fiat factory that it would be "irresponsible to waste all the sacrifices that Italians [had] made".

On Friday, he joked that the impending end of his technocratic government was "not the fault of the Mayan prophecy", referring to a prediction that the world would end on Friday.

available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20814796