Berlusconi to resign

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will resign once parliament approves the 2012 budget bill, Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano said. The key vote, which is likely to take place later this month in both houses, will ensure that Italy adopts urgent deficit-cutting reforms demanded by eurozone leaders. Napolitano said in a statement that he would hold consultations to form a new government after the PM’s resignation. Berlusconi’s government appeared to no longer muster a parliamentary majority on Tuesday, when it won a key budget vote with 308 votes, eight votes short of the absolute majority in the lower chamber.

Reuters