Italy was stalled in political deadlock on Saturday after a new round of talks failed to move forward toward forming a government, officials said, and news reports said President Giorgio Napolitano was weighing whether to resign to give a new team a chance at breaking the impasse. Such a move would allow Parliament to elect a new president, who would then also have the option of dissolving the body and calling new elections. The president’s office called journalists to the presidential palace around midday on Saturday, when his decision is expected. Mr. Napolitano has been under some pressure from all sides to act quickly as Italy struggles through one of its most difficult economic crises since World War II. “Enough With Games!” ran a banner headline Friday in Il Sole 24 Ore, the country’s main economic newspaper.
“This country needs respect and attention and, most of all, it deserves to be governed,” wrote the newspaper’s editor, Roberto Napoletano, in a front-page editorial that doubled as a succinct shopping list of grievances that the future Italian government will have to contend with.
“Almost one young Italian out of two is jobless, every day dozens of manufacturing companies fold, the sum of fiscal and contributive impositions (total tax rate) weighing on businesses has reached the record level of 68.3 percent and the cost of bureaucratic inefficiency is estimated at 73 billion euros per year,” he wrote. “The ratio between Italy’s public debt and its G.D.P. is heading toward 130 percent.”
New negotiations with political leaders became necessary Friday evening after Pier Luigi Bersani, the leader of the center-left coalition that won national elections last month but lacked a majority, failed to find that support after nearly a week of negotiations.
Full Article: Italian President May Step Down Amid Deadlock – NYTimes.com.