THE caretaker Italian Prime Minister, Mr Lamberto Dini, has suggested that a victory for the centre right in next week's genera, election could prove "dangerous for Italy.
Mr Dini is contesting the election at the head of his "Italian Renewal" movement, which has formed an electoral alliance with the centre left "Olive" coalition, largely dominated by the ex-communist Democratic Left.
Speaking to Rome's resident press corps, he was sharply critical of his rivals, questioning the democratic credentials of neo fascist Alleanza Nazionale, the senior centre right coalition partner of Forza ltalia, the party created two years ago by the media tycoon, Mr Silvio Berlusconi.
"The methods [of Alleanza Nazionale] are authoritarian, and this makes me worry. These are people who have only very recently embraced democratic ideals, who've only just discovered democracy The tendencies that have emerged recently in the centre right are not encouraging in that Forza Italia has given up on policy formation and has accepted domination by Alleanza Nazionale.
"Forza Italia even rejected one third of its own elected MPs because they were considered too moderate."
Reflecting on his year as head of a "technocrat" government, Mr Dini argued that the centre left had been the only political force to show responsibility and to put the national interest above purely party political interests. Pointing out that he had been appointed prime minister on the suggestion of the centre right, he said his year of government had been made very difficult by constant undermining from that same source.
Mr Dini claimed that his year in office had been a relative success, with the economy showing a 12 per cent export growth, the lira stable for the last six months and the public debt reduced.
He rejected allegations that he had opted to run his own political movement within the Olive coalition primarily because he had come to like political office and wanted to remain there.
Mr Dini came into politics two years ago when asked to serve as finance minister in Mr Berlusconi's government.
Asked about the realism of Mr Berlusconi's celebrated winning electoral slogan, namely a promise to create a million new jobs, he said "That promise was made on the basis of a simple calculation of the number of medium and small firms in Italy in the hope that one in four of them could be persuaded to take on someone new . . . However, polities and the art of government are not always that simple."
Mr Dini added that he would have preferred the election to have been delayed by two years allowing time for the national economy to be further adjusted in line with the Maastricht criteria for monetary union as well as time for the lira to re-enter the Exchange Rate Mechanism.