Financial markets topple Berlusconi

The planned resignation of Silvio Berlusconi is a merciful release that nonetheless leaves a bitter aftertaste, writes the liberal daily De Standaard: "As long as Berlusconi was sitting in the Palazzo Chigi no one believed that Italy would enact the economic reforms demanded of it to calm the markets. Because he has lost the very last remnants of his credibility Berlusconi must now step down - in the interest of all Europe. For if Italy, like Greece, begins to falter the European edifice would come under such pressure that it could be fatal. The whole episode leaves a bitter aftertaste: it was only because the democratically elected Italian politicians felt the sharpened knife of the financial markets and the EU in their backs that they plucked up the courage to get rid of Berlusconi. ... This does not bode well for the country, because the imminent departure of the Cavaliere is merely a first step towards Italy regaining the confidence of the international financial markets."

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