Italy go to the polls on 9 April 2006 

Mr Berlusconi's announcement of the new election date came as a bit of a surprise as commentators expected him to want to hang on to power until May 2006. An opinion poll released last week indicated that the centre-left coalition of Mr Prodi would win the elections with 51% of the vote against 41.5% for Berlusconi's centre-right.

On 16 October, Romano Prodi received strong backing as leader of Italy's centre left opposition (see EurActiv 17 Oct 2005).

Silvio Berlusconi has tried to introduce major economic reforms in his country but Italy has dropped down the rankings in several competitiveness lists in recent years. It is a moot point whether or not a new centre-left coalition will be ready to introduce the necessary reforms in the country.

It would also be foolish to rule out the possibility that Mr Berlusconi, who is a formidable campaigner, will make a campaign comeback as Gerhard Schröder did in Germany.