Italy’s Berlusconi says may not stand in 2013

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Tuesday he was ready to drop plans to lead the centre-right in next year’s parliamentary election and did not rule out a second term for Prime Minister Mario Monti.“Silvio Berlusconi has always said and continues to say that he is ready to stand aside to allow all moderates to unite in a single force which can face the left together,” he told his own Canale 5 television network.“I have always wanted the good of the country I love, I have never had any personal ambition,” he said.He declined to say who would lead his People of Freedom (PDL) party in the election if he did step aside but did not exclude a centre-right government led by Monti, who has ruled out standing for election but said he would be willing to serve a second term if asked. “Absolutely, I would not rule out it being Mario Monti. Ever since I’ve known him he has always been in the liberal camp, so it could easily be Mario Monti,” he said.The decision could remove a major obstacle to the creation of a centre-right force running from the PDL to the centrist UDC party led by Pier Ferdinando Casini and even the small Future and Liberty for Italy (FLI) party created by Berlusconi’s estranged former ally Gianfranco Fini.The smaller centrist parties have been unwilling to accept joining a coalition led by the scandal-plagued Berlusconi, who has been Italy’s dominant political figure for the past two decades.The secretary of Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PDL) party, Angelino Alfano, on Monday raised the prospect of Berlusconi stepping aside.Casini said on Monday that Berlusconi’s repeated record of “turnarounds” meant that he would be very cautious in responding to the invitation to an alliance.