(23 Feb 2007)
1. Exterior of presidential palace
2. Silvio Berlusconi, former prime minister and head of the centre-right opposition, leaving president's office and walking to podium
3. Presidential guard
4. SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Silvio Berlusconi, head of centre-right opposition:
"We asked the president to realise that this government was not, is not and will never be able to govern absolutely. The government of the left which never had the majority on the country since the beginning could not rely on a self-sufficient political majority at the senate."
5. Journalists
6. SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Silvio Berlusconi, head of centre-right opposition:
"We asked the president that there be no new editions of a government that has already done enough damage, compromising the country's
international credibility, increasing taxation and destroying the reforms that have been introduced by our former government, and stopping the majority of the public works which have been started."
7. Berlusconi walking away
8. Gianfranco Fini, leader of centre-right National Alliance party, walking in
9. SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Gianfranco Fini, leader of centre-right National Alliance party:
"Italy needs a government which is based on a wide and united political majority which may support a self-sufficient programme, this is true in general but particularly at the Senate."
10. Close-up of presidential guard
11. Wide shot of president's office door
STORYLINE:
The Italian president met leaders of the centre-right opposition on Friday in what was expected to be a final round of consultations on the formation of a new government after the resignation of Premier Romano Prodi's nine-month-old Cabinet.
President Giorgio Napolitano has held two days of talks in Rome with political leaders to determine which politician has enough backing in Parliament to form a viable government.
Prodi stepped down on Wednesday evening after an embarrassing parliamentary defeat over foreign policy, including the government's plan to keep troops in Afghanistan.
He was staying on in a caretaker role.
Earlier on Friday, Prodi emerged from a late night meeting of his centre-left coalition with agreement on a plan that could help him to form a new government and return to office.
Silvio Berlusconi, the head of the opposition and the former prime minister, left the president's office on Friday and stopped to tell journalists that he had asked the president not to ask Prodi to form a new government.
Berlusconi claimed the Prodi's government had affected Italy's international credibility, increased taxation and destroyed reforms introduced by his former government.
"We asked the president to realise that this government was not, is not and will never be able to govern absolutely," Berlusconi said.
Prodi narrowly defeated Berlusconi in elections last year to end five years of conservative rule.
Berlusconi now wants early elections or a broad coalition government.
After his talks with Napolitano, the leader of National Allliance, Gianfranco Fini, also said Italy needed a government with wider political support.
Napolitano met first with members of the conservative opposition and was scheduled to hold talks with centre-left leaders in the afternoon.
Once the consultations at the presidential palace conclude, Napolitano might ask Prodi or another leader from his coalition to form a new government.
He might also tap an institutional figure above the political fray to form a Cabinet - possibly with broad support from both coalitions - or might call early elections.

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