ROME, Nov.
8 (Xinhua) -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will resign after
austerity measures demanded by the European Council were approved, the Italian
president's office said in a statement published on its website on Tuesday.
In his
meeting with President Giorgio Napolitano, Berlusconi expressed "his
awareness of the implications of the result of today's vote (on a 2010 budget
report of the government), but at the same time has shown deep concern about
the urgent need to give precise answers to the expectations of European
partners," the statement said.
Berlusconi's
decision came after he lost his parliamentary majority in a vote on the budget
earlier on Tuesday.
Both
opposition parties and allies have urged the embattled prime minister to step
down, after raising concerns over whether Italy can solve its debt problems.
Berlusconi
won the budget vote, but received less than half the ballots in the 630-seat
chamber, far below the 316 needed for a solid majority.
A total of
308 deputies voted in favor, and one abstention, while 321 MPs did not take
part in the vote on the measure including the opposition and ten deputies from
the premier's own coalition.
After the
vote, Berlusconi held a meeting with his senior ministers before meeting the
president for the future of the center-right government.
Meanwhile,
opposition leader Pierluigi Bersani urged the Italian prime minister to step
down as "his government no longer has a majority in this chamber."
"Mister
Prime Minister, I ask you with all my strength to finally take account of the
situation and resign, asking the Italian president to find a solution that can
enable our country to face this emergency," he said.
"We
all know that Italy is running the real risk of not having access to financial
markets," he added.
Earlier on
Tuesday, Berlusconi's leading political ally Umberto Bossi, leader of the
conservative Northern League party in the ruling coalition, also asked him to
resign.
"We
asked him to step aside," he said outside the parliament before the vote.
The sense
of crisis intensified over the last few days as investors are concerned that
the combination of Italy's low growth rate and high debt could make it the next
country to fall in the eurozone economic crisis.
Editor: Mu Xuequan
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