ITALY: Italian Prime Minister Mr Silvio Berlusconi's attempt to quell a government crisis by naming a new economy minister looked problematic at the weekend, with one party leader threatening to quit his coalition over the latest upheaval.
Mr Umberto Bossi, head of Italy's Northern League, who was absent during the government wrangle due to a stroke, waded back into the fray on Saturday, just as Mr Berlusconi was seeking to assure voters the reshuffle was done and the crisis overcome. "At this point, nothing else will be touched. It is time to go forward," Mr Berlusconi said in identical interviews in three newspapers on Saturday.
Mr Berlusconi appointed former treasury director Mr Domenico Siniscalco to lead the economy ministry on Friday after the forced resignation of Mr Giulio Tremonti, who had fallen foul of bitter political feuding.
But the regionalist Northern League, who had hoped for Mr Tremonti's return, suggested any ceasefire would be short-lived.
"Bossi is back and saying goodbye to Rome," La Padania newspaper, the Northern League's mouthpiece, said on Saturday.
"Umberto Bossi quitting the government is not just political fantasy, but a very possible reality. The leader of the Northern League, now returned to political life, intends to join the European Parliament and leave his ministerial post."
Senior party figures are due to meet today.
