Americas

Americas

Obama speaks with Italian president amid political uncertainty

11 November 2011 01:54 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday called his Italian counterpart Giorgio Napolitano on the situation in the European power, said White House spokesman Jay Carney, in the wake of the announcement by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that he will step down, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"I can tell you that the president spoke with President Napolitano this morning about the situation in Italy," Carney told reporters at the briefing.

"He expressed confidence in President Napolitano’s leadership to put an interim government in place in Italy that will implement an aggressive reform program and restore market confidence," he said.

Berlusconi said on Wednesday that he will not stand if Italy holds early elections, a day after promising to step down once the parliament approves urgent budget reforms for 2012.

The 75-year-old premier said that once the budget measures for 2012 are passed, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano will begin consultations naming as his likely successor a 41-year-old Sicilian lawyer, Angelino Alfano, who is now the secretary of his People of Freedom Party.