Centre-right collapses, Democratic Party holds up

(ANSA) - Rome, May 8 - Premier Mario Monti's government is widely seen as being weaker after local elections in which his predecessor Silvio Berlusconi's party suffered heavy losses and a big protest vote against austerity measures was registered.

Berlusconi said his People of Freedom (PdL) party would continue to support Monti's emergency administration of technocrats even after its candidates took a series of heavy beatings, finishing fourth in Genoa and sixth in Parma, where its man took less than 5% of the vote.

But the former premier also stressed that "we won't commit ourselves to voting for measures we don't agree with" after doing badly in a major test of the Italian public's mood ahead of general elections next year.

This could make it tough for Monti's government to press ahead with its programme of structural economic reforms designed to revive the recession-hit Italian economy, including unpopular labour-market measures. The PdL remains the biggest party in parliament.

The government could also find the centre left less willing to accept measures it does not like after the first round of voting to elect the councils of around 1,000 Italian cities.

Pier Luigi Bersani, the leader of the Democratic Party (PD), had called on the government to "listen a little more" to his demands after his party was the only one of the three big groups backing Monti to see its support hold up.

Companies must move into line with EU average, ministry says

(ANSA) - Rome, May 8 - Petrol prices are to come down in Italy immediately, the government said Tuesday.

"The government expects a reduction, starting today, in the price of petrol of at least 4-5 cents per litre," Industry Undersecretary Claudio De Vincenti said after meeting with sector operators. "For us it is unjustified that the price of petrol should rise when it is falling at an international level," he added, stressing that the ministry had issued a "firm" call to distributors and petrol companies to bring their prices into line with the European Union average.

Petrol prices have continued to surge over the last year, reaching almost 2 euros a litre, while overall inflation has steadied.

Consumer groups have accused petrol companies of unfairly jacking up prices.

Number up 4.2% on 2011

(ANSA) - Rome, May 8 - Bankruptcy proceedings were opened for over 3,000 companies in recession-hit Italy in the first quarter of this year, up 4.2% on 2011, the Cerved market-research agency said on Tuesday.

The agency added that the number of companies going to the wall in Italy has been growing now for four years.

Cerved's data also contained some good news though. It said that the seasonally-adjusted figure for bankruptcies in the first quarter of this year and the last three months of 2011 was down 1.1%, while stressing that the number of firms going under remained very high.

Athens Macedonian News Agency: 12-05-08

AMNA--Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) leader Alexis Tsipras arrived at the presidential mansion in Athens on Tuesday, at roughly 1 p.m. local time, to receive a mandate to form a government from Greek President Karolos Papoulias.

"The country is in need of a government," Papoulias said in greeting Tsipras.amna

"... this is a historic moment for the Left and a personal responsibility for me, if one considers that the previous mandate (received by a leftist party) was given to (late Communist Party leader) Harilaos Florakis. I would have had more chances of forming a government if we had a different election system or if I had received more votes. The people have decided, we must respect their verdict," Tsipras said.amna

New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras returned a mandate to form a government on Monday, unable to cobble together a coalition.

ND picked up a disappointing 18.85 percent of the vote in Sunday's election, while SYRIZA came in a surprising second with 16.78 percent.

Athens Macedonian News Agency: 12-05-08

AMNA--Of more than half of the voters that went to the polls, roughly more than three million are former supporters of New Democracy (ND) and PASOK, the two political parties that suffered heavy losses in Sunday's general elections, both in terms of percentages and number of votes compared with the 2009 elections.

ND received 1,191,052 votes (18.85 pct) and 108 seats in Parliament, compared to 2009 when it received 2,295,719 votes (33.47 pct) and 91 seats. Despite the fact that it received less votes (1,104,667) compared to 2009 it will have more seats in Parliament (17 seats). amna

PASOK received 832,777 votes (13.18 pct) and 41 seats, compared to 2009 with 3,012,542 votes (43.92 pct) and 160 seats. Namely, it received roughly one-fourth of the votes and one-fourth of the seats.amna

During the 2009 general elections, SYRIZA had received 315,665 votes (4.60 pct) and 13 seats compared to 1,060,411 votes (16.78 pct) and 52 seats it received in Sunday's elections. SYRIZA is represented in Parliament with almost half the seats of ND despite the fact that it received only 130,641 votes less than ND.