Italy nettled by European ploy to meddle in election

(ROME) - Left to its own devices, could Italy slide back into the debt crisis mire after the upcoming elections, dealing a knock-on blow to the eurozone, or vote party-loving Silvio Berlusconi back into power?

Such concerns appeared behind the European ploy this week to snub the ageing magnate and champion his successor Mario Monti, sparking a heated debate in Italy over whether the debt crisis means outsiders have a right to interfere in Italian politics.

"We're at the limits of interference," the left-leaning Repubblica daily said after leaders gathered at a meeting of the European People's Party on Thursday snubbed Berlusconi for Monti.

The former eurocrat was warmly welcomed to the talks -- despite not being a member of a political party that belongs to the EPP -- and many called for him to run in the upcoming general elections in February.

"The EPP presented Mario Monti as candidate to lead the future Italian government. It did so in the presence of Angela Merkel and in front of Silvio Berlusconi, explicitly and without any diplomatic courtesy," the Corriere della Sera said.

Berlusconi, who announced his return to front-line politics only to dither over his candidacy, was given the cold shoulder by all his former colleagues "apart from the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (and that should make you think!)" the Repubblica wrote in an article entitled "Europe Votes Monti."

The problem, columnist Antonio Polito of the Corriere said, is that "the risk Italy represents really frightens Europe."

"Our partners are not concerning themselves with us out of altruism, nor imperialism, but in self-defence," he said.

Giacomo Marramao, political expert at Rome's University III, said it had been a "stigmatisation of a political leader who, according to the majority of the EPP members, acted politically not in the general interest but to defend his private interests."

Berlusconi, who was ousted from power in November 2011 amid scandals and a worsening financial crisis, has been accused by critics of wanting to run for the premiership in order to protect himself from a trial against him for paying for underage sex.

"Many see Berlusconi as an anomaly and a threat to the EU's politics, and see Monti on the other hand as a reliable person whose policies fit in perfectly with the European context," Marramao told AFP.

An attempt to intervene in Italy's internal affairs was "absolutely legitimate" considering the circumstances, he added.

"It seems inevitable and even a step forward. It means the EU is reacting as a political entity and not just an economic one. And at the end of the day, it's the voters who decide," he said.

Caught off guard, the 76-year-old Berlusconi told his entourage "had I known what was waiting for me, had I known Monti was invited as well, I wouldn't have come," according to the Repubblica.

In an apparent about-turn, the billionaire who had earlier announced he was "running to win" told Monti he would step aside and support the technocrat should he agree to run as the head of a centre-right coalition.

"We've never seen the leader of a party propose, as candidate for the post of prime minister, the very man he's withdrawn confidence from in parliament," La Stampa daily said, referring to the move by Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party to undermine Monti last week.

"He is behaving in an erratic manner and Europe doesn't want him," it said.