ROME: Left to its own devices, could Italy slide back into the debt crisis mire after the upcoming elections, dealing a knock-on blow to the eurozone, or vote party-loving Silvio Berlusconi back into power?
Such concerns appeared behind the European ploy this week to snub the ageing magnate and champion his successor Mario Monti, sparking a heated debate in Italy over whether the debt crisis means outsiders have a right to interfere in Italian politics.
"We're at the limits of interference," the left-leaning Repubblica daily said after leaders gathered at a meeting of the European People's Party on Thursday snubbed Berlusconi for Monti.
The former eurocrat was warmly welcomed to the talks -- despite not being a member of a political party that belongs to the EPP -- and many called for him to run in the upcoming general elections in February.
"The EPP presented Mario Monti as candidate to lead the future Italian government. It did so in the presence of Angela Merkel and in front of Silvio Berlusconi, explicitly and without any diplomatic courtesy," the Corriere della Sera said.
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