Goodbye, Colombo

Through two Parliaments, ten governments and five Premiers, Italy during the past decade has been ruled by an unstable but basically unchanging center-left coalition. Beset by continual infighting, the coalition has fallen apart on an average of once a year; Italy's politicians have had to drop everything and devote their entire attention to putting the alliance together again.

Last week the 17-month-old government of Premier Emilio Colombo toppled in another such crisis--one, moreover, that raised the question of how much longer the center-left coalition formula could survive at a time when a deep recession is exacerbating all of Italy's social ills. The crisis was provoked by the tiny but influential Republican Party, which withdrew its support to protest what it viewed as irresponsible and inflationary government spending. Unwilling or unable to change course to meet the Republicans' demands, the other parties in the coalition--the Socialists, Social Democrats and Christian Democrats --could agree only to disagree. Colombo dutifully handed his resignation to President Giovanni Leone, and prepared to carry on as a caretaker Premier while Leone talked to the parties about a replacement--presumably hoping that the task could be completed in less than the 16 days of balloting required for his own election last month.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.