Romano Prodi on Wednesday dismissed calls by outgoing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for a German-style grand coalition in Italy, saying he would form ”a strong government” despite his wafer-thin majority in the Senate.
”There is no need for a grand coalition because we have a majority that allows us to govern,” Prodi said in an interview with French Radio Europe 1.
Prodi’s Union party can count on a comfortable margin — 348 seats versus 281 — in the lower Chamber of Deputies but on only a two-seat majority — 158 versus 156 — in the upper house, raising doubts as to whether he will be able to govern effectively.
Prodi played down such concerns on Wednesday, telling Europe 1 that all of the nine parties in his coalition had discussed and agreed the future government’s programme prior to the election.
He said his government would go ahead with plans to withdraw Italy’s troops from Iraq, ”in accordance with Baghdad”, and accused Berlusconi of being ”out of line” for demanding a vote recount.
Berlusconi has so far refused to concede defeat, saying the election result was too close to call.
”We will recognise the Union’s victory only after the necessary legal verification procedures have been completed,” Berlusconi told a press conference in Rome on Tuesday.
Just 25 000 votes separate his centre-right House of Freedoms coalition from Prodi’s Union in the race for the Chamber of Deputies.
Officials were due to complete the process of checking some 40 000 contested ballots by the end of this week, but experts expect few surprises. They note that even if a significant number of contested ballots were to be awarded, they would benefit both coalitions.
The situation is more complicated in the Senate. Here, Berlusconi prevailed slightly over Prodi but failed to gain a majority of seats because of the region-by-region method used to award them under Italy’s new electoral system.
Prodi’s two-seat majority came as a result of the expatriate vote, and the verification of their ballots was not expected to be completed until after Easter. — Sapa-DPA