意總理貝盧斯科尼將辭職 多名議員倒戈

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Tuesday he would resign after suffering a humiliating setback in parliament that showed a Party revolt had stripped him of a majority.

Berlusconi confirmed a statement from President Giorgio Napolitano that he would step down as soon as parliament passed urgent budget reforms demanded by European leaders after Italy was sucked into ePicenter of the euro zone debt crisis.

The votes in both houses of parliament are likely this month and they would spell the end of a 17-year dominance of Italy by the flamboyant billionaire media magnate.

His failure to implement reforms fueled a party revolt and Berlusconi told his own Canale 5 television station that the only option was an early election. However, this could prolong the uncertainty that has sapped market confidence.

Berlusconi's government won a key budget vote after the opposition abstained on Tuesday but failed to secure a majority, obtaining only 308 votes in the 630-seat lower house, eight short of the 316 needed to be sure of passing legislation.

Pier Luigi Bersani, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, said Italy ran a real risk of losing access to financial markets after political uncertainty pushed yields on government bonds toward a red line of 7 percent.

"I ask you, Mr Prime Minister, with all my strength, to finally take account of the situation ... and resign," Bersani said immediately after the vote.

Italy, considered too big to bail out, has replaced Greece as the main cause for concern in the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis.

Berlusconi has been on the ropes for weeks, beset by a string of sex and legal scandals, political defeats and, most crucially, a loss of confidence on international markets.

But the 75-year-old, who has dominated Italian politics for most of the past two decades, had steadfastly refused to step down until Tuesday's vote and battled until the last to win over rebels in his PDL party.

The vote showed he had failed to stem the revolt and Berlusconi's bitterness was revealed by a photographer who caught the words "8 traitors" jotted down on his notepad in parliament after the result was read out by the speaker.意大利總理西爾維奧-貝盧斯科尼本週二宣佈將會辭職。此前他在議會投票中遭遇恥辱性的慘敗，同黨議員倒戈使他失去了議會的大多數支持。

貝盧斯科尼證實了意大利總統喬治-納波利塔諾的聲明，稱自己在議會通過歐盟領導人要求的緊急預算改革後將立刻辭職。意大利已成爲歐債危機的“風暴眼”。

參衆兩院的投票有望於本月舉行，這將意味着派頭十足的億萬富翁兼媒體大亨貝盧斯科尼17年統治的終結。

貝盧斯科尼未能實施改革加劇了黨內倒戈。他在接受自己旗下的第五頻道電視臺採訪時說，唯一的選擇是提前大選。但這會延長已經打壓了市場信心的政壇不穩定期。

本週二，在反對黨派拒絕投票的情況下，貝盧斯科尼政府贏得了關鍵性預算投票，但沒能獲得多數支持，在衆議院的630個席位中僅獲得308票贊成，比確保通過立法的316票要少8票。

主要反對黨民主黨領袖皮爾-路易-貝爾薩尼指出，政治不穩定性導致意大利國債收益率逼近7%的警戒線，意大利的金融市場面臨崩潰。

貝爾薩尼在投票過後立即說道：“我盡全力呼籲你，總統先生，爲大局考慮，辭職吧。”

意大利債務規模過於龐大，援助難以實現。目前，意大利已取代希臘，成爲歐元區主權債務危機的新焦點。

貝盧斯科尼的地位幾周來一直岌岌可危，不僅性醜聞和法律醜聞纏身，政壇受挫，而且最關鍵的是還失信於國際市場。

本週二投票前，75歲的老貝一直拒絕辭職，爲了重獲自民黨幾位倒戈議員的支持，他一直鬥爭到最後。在過去近20年裏，貝盧斯科尼一直統治意大利政壇。

但投票結果顯示，他沒能阻止倒戈。有攝影師拍到議會表決宣佈時，老貝在記事本上潦草地寫下“八名叛徒”，透露出他的心痛。