ROME (AP):PREMIER SILVIO Berlusconi indicated Saturday that he would resign next week, clearing the way for a government led by centre-left leader Romano Prodi who won Italian elections this month.
The comment from Berlusconi came hours after Prodi scored his first parliamentary victory when both of his candidates were elected speakers in the two houses of parliament after a tough battle.
"I am very, very happy," Prodi was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency. "We have settled in."
Berlusconi did not directly say that he would hand his resignation to Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. But, asked when he would step down, he replied, "The Cabinet meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday," and added that soon afterward he would go to see Ciampi.
EXPECTED TO FORMALLY RESIGN
Berlusconi is expected to formally resign during the Cabinet meeting and then hand it in to the president.
The parliament's vote earlier Saturday marked a political victory for Prodi after days of tensions. Applause broke out in both chambers, signaling the center-left's relief after securing its candidates for parliament's top jobs.
In the Senate, Franco Marini won the presidency at the fourth round of voting after a close race against former Christian Democrat premier Giulio Andreotti, the nominee of Berlusconi's coalition.
The race was closely watched because Prodi's forces have a two-seat majority in the upper house. Failure to elect Marini in the first three rounds of voting Friday was seen as a setback for Prodi and renewed doubts over his coalition's ability to control the upper house.
"This is a weak, frail majority that can't be independent and autonomous," said Renato Schifani, the Senate whip for Berlusconi's Forza Italia party.
In the lower Chamber of Deputies, communist leader Fausto Bertinotti got the nod. He failed to win the necessary two thirds majority in early voting, and won Saturday when a simple majority was needed.
"Washington and its handful of allies face a real challenge in putting an equivalent 'human face' on the FTAA," he added, referring to the U.S.-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas.
