Date:06/07/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/07/06/stories/2004070602511400.htm

International

Berlusconi to double as Finance Minister

By Sophie Arie

ROME, JULY 5. The Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, will be forced to double as Finance Minister at the E.U. summit in Brussels following a weekend of political turmoil which heaped pressure on his Government.

The media tycoon took up the economic reins after frantic meetings which culminated in the resignation of the Finance Minister, Giulio Tremonti, who had held that post for the past three years. .

Mr. Berlusconi's first act in the job will be to face a grilling in Brussels over Italy's runaway public spending.

It was reported that he spent yesterday swotting up on the details of the national budget.

The departure of Mr. Tremonti — a loyal member of Mr. Berlusconi's Centre-Right Forza Italia and a keystone of the current administration — was seen as a sign that the Italian leader is losing control of his Government.

The Finance Minister was asked to resign when Gianfranco Fini, leader of the second-largest party in the ruling coalition, the National Alliance, threatened to withdraw support in a dispute over much-needed budget cuts.

However, this has angered another coalition partner, the Northern League, which had backed Mr. Tremonti's plans to reduce spending in the underdeveloped South.

The League brought down Mr. Berlusconi's last government in 1994 by withdrawing its support.

Italian newspapers described the image-conscious Prime Minister as ``a lame duck'' at the mercy of his allies while his supporters said that a change of finance minister did not constitute a crisis. —