Rome -
Four ministers are set to resign from the Italian government on Monday in a move that confirms a break with the coalition but will not automatically topple Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government.
The four - Europe Minister Andrea Ronchi, Deputy Economic Development Minister Adolfo Urso and two junior ministers - are supporters of speaker of parliament Gianfranco Fini, a former ally of Berlusconi turned rival.
“We propose a new government, a new majority, a new agenda for reform... Berlusconi is holing himself up in his palace like in a bunker,” Urso said in an interview on the news channel SkyTG24 ahead of the announcement.
“We need to open a new political chapter,” he added.
Antonio Buonfiglio, a junior minister for agriculture, said: “We will hand in our letters of... resignation from the government by 1.00pm.”
Buonfiglio said the decision was “irrevocable”.
Fini called on Berlusconi to resign earlier this month and threatened to pull ministers loyal to him out of the government if he did not.
Berlusconi has fought back, vowing to hold confidence votes in parliament and to fight off his rivals in parliamentary elections if needed.
Italy's main political forces agreed this weekend that any confidence vote in parliament would only come after lawmakers approve a budget for 2011 at a tricky time for heavily-indebted Italy on international financial markets.
Debate on the budget is set to start on Tuesday in the lower house but final approval by the upper house may come only later in November or in December and the centre-left opposition says it fears “time-wasting tactics” by Berlusconi.
Despite the political wrangling expected in the coming days, the consensus among experts is that Berlusconi's government - in place since 2008 elections - will eventually fall long before its mandate runs out in 2013. - Sapa-AFP