The president of Italy, Mr Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, had a busy weekend and has an even busier week ahead of him if he is to pull his country out of the political crisis it stumbled into on Friday with the collapse of the government. "Italian government falls" is not a news flash that tends to capture much attention, given that Italy has dispensed with 55 governments in the space of 45 years, but the timing of this collapse could hardly be worse.
In less than 100 days the lira enters economic and monetary union and Italy now finds itself not just without a budget, but without a government which could produce a budget. Of more immediate concern is the crisis over Kosovo and the credibility of NATO's threat of military action. Air strikes against Serbian targets would be far more difficult to orchestrate if Italy is not fully behind them, as is the case at the moment. NATO's southern military command is in Naples. NATO would strike at Serbia from airbases at Aviano, Vicenza and Villafranca. The cobbling together of Italian governments is usually a routine and leisurely business. Not this time.
To be fair to the outgoing Prime Minister, Mr Romano Prodi, his government lasted longer and achieved more than was expected when it assumed office two and a half years ago. In particular, Mr Prodi managed to drag down the budget deficit, thus qualifying Italy (just about) for EMU membership. But his government survived only because it had the support of Refounded Communists, a party which still keeps faith with unreconstructed communism and the support was grudging. Eventually the support fell away because Mr Prodi's proposed budget for 1999 offered, the communists said, too little help for the unemployed and the needy. Mr Prodi is unrepentant. He told a rally in his home town of Bologna yesterday that in losing the confidence vote, his government had "saved the country". For once, an Italian government refused to succumb to self-interested bribes and threats.
Mr Prodi is being economic with the truth but what is certainly true is that his government ran out of steam. It failed to deliver much-needed constitutional reforms, it lost its way in the fight against corruption and the economy is once again on the slide. Unemployment is at 12 per cent (double that figure in parts of the south) and the deficit seems likely to increase once more because the government, in common with its predecessors, was simply incapable of tackling the horrendously expensive State pension scheme.
What Italy needs is fresh elections but it won't get them because time is of the essence. Mr Scalfaro will today sound out party leaders with a view to appointing a new Prime Minister for a fixed period or even just with a fixed agenda - get a budget through parliament. And once again Italy, in a backstairs deal, will change the governing majority without consulting the electorate.