“Monti, you cannot resign now as Prime Minister to go and preside over the Senate, because in this way we risk giving a dramatic blow to Italy's image. Right now, our country is linked to her government and therefore she is irreplaceable ”. And that's that. This is the gist of a very tense conversation that took place yesterday at the Quirinale between Giorgio Napolitano and Mario Monti and in which the Head of State cut in no uncertain terms Monti's intention to immediately resign from the Government to be elected, with the votes of the Pd, president of the Senate and from there prepare the subsequent ascent to the Quirinal. "I myself - Napolitano added - would also be willing to vote for you as President of the Republic, but his chances are running out in this way".
"I don't agree, but I obey" was the Prime Minister's bitter reply to Napolitano's very clear niet, motivated by legal and constitutional reasons.
“President – the premier had gone to say to Napolitano – I would have accepted the presidency of the Senate offered to me by Bersani only with a view to favoring a broader political agreement on Palazzo Chigi. In short, I would have adhered to the Democratic Party's proposal only on condition that it could be useful for unblocking the picture, certainly not for a personal matter of mine. But if you say that this choice would be inappropriate, politically and above all juridically, and if you are adamant on this point, that's fine: I obey, even if I don't agree…”.
Napolitano opposed Monti's proposal for solid legal reasons (“his government doesn't have a deputy who can replace him”) but above all for political reasons (“at the moment Italy's image is linked to his government”). In reality Napolitano, most likely, does not even agree with the subsequent steps of the plan that are hidden behind Monti's candidacy first for the Senate and then for the Quirinale with the votes of the Democratic Party and perhaps also of the League. Plan that would also provide for the formation of a Bersani minority government and the subsequent rapid elections. The Quirinal does not want uncertainties about the government either today (with Monti's resignation and the immediate succession of Cancellieri) or tomorrow (Bersani's minority government) and continues to press the political forces and especially the Democratic Party to arrive at a large political majority capable to support a government that is not exposed to all winds and that knows how to achieve two objectives: reform of the electoral law before returning to the vote and management of the economic and financial emergency.
