Prime Minister, Italy Prime Minister | featured news

Centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani is favorite among Italians to lead the next government, with outgoing technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti second most popular and Silvio Berlusconi coming a close third, a poll showed on Sunday.

Italian borrowing costs reached breaking point on Wednesday after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's insistence on elections instead of an interim government opened the way to prolonged instability and delays to long-promised economic reforms.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi tried on Tuesday to calm fears that Italy could be swept into a full-scale financial crisis and the opposition pledged to smooth the passage through parliament of tough debt-cutting measures.

Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, his popularity plummeting as he faces a string of legal cases, appeared in court for the first time in eight years on Monday.