Berlusconi says he won’t run for PM

Silvio Berlusconi, leader of Italy’s main centre-right party, has ended months of speculation over a possible political comeback by declaring he will not stand as a candidate for prime minister in elections due early next year.

The former three-time prime minister, who last week defended himself in court against charges of paying for sex with a juvenile prostitute, said in a statement on Wednesday that his People of Liberty party would hold elections in December to choose his successor.

Mr Berlusconi’s party, the largest in parliament, has been left, in effect, rudderless since his humiliating resignation as prime minister last November to make way for Mario Monti’s technocrat government.

By stepping back, Mr Berlusconi opens the way for a leadership struggle that could break the party apart, having failed to gain consensus behind his anointed successor, Angelino Alfano.

However the 76-year-old billionaire did not rule himself out of politics altogether, saying he would remain at the side of younger Italians “who must play and score goals”.

Aides only last week were suggesting that Mr Berlusconi would set up a breakaway party but this was not clear from his statement in which he said: “I still have good muscles and a bit of brains, but what is left for me is to give advice, offer history and judge without intruding.”

Opinion polls point to an uncertain outcome in elections due to be held by next April at the end of Mr Mont’s mandate. The centre-left Democratic party holds a commanding lead over the People of Liberty but not enough to govern alone.

Gaetano Quagliariello, a People of Liberty senator close to Mr Berlusconi, praised his “courageous” decision and said it would open the way for the party to forge a coalition with other “moderate” parties, a possibility previously rejected by leaders of small centrist groups supporting Mr Monti as long as Mr Berlusconi remained at the helm.

Responding to concerns, particularly on financial markets, that Italy would not produce a stable government capable of continuing his economic reforms, Mr Monti told a press conference in Rome that the next government would, like its predecessors, be bound by commitments made to the EU.

Asked about the possibility of his playing a future role in government, Mr Monti broke into English and replied: “Please relax.”

Mr Monti, who is guaranteed a seat in the next parliament as life senator, has said he will not campaign in the elections but has indicated he will be ready to serve his country if called upon “in a special circumstance”, interpreted to mean no clear cut electoral outcome.

Officials say there is also talk that Mr Monti could be invited by a future centre-left government to take the post of finance minister.

In his first interview after resigning, Mr Berlusconi told the Financial Times last February that he would step back from the front line of politics. But over the summer he fuelled speculation that he would attempt to mount a comeback, wavering between adopting an anti-European platform or a reformist liberal manifesto.