WITH his restrained smile, laconic manner and dry humour, Mario Monti, Italy’s prime minister, makes a good sphinx. And that is the role he will have to play until the budget for 2013 is approved by parliament, probably on December 21st. Only then will he be able to cast aside the neutrality he must maintain as head of a technocratic government and announce whether he plans to stand in the general election now expected in February.The early vote became inevitable on December 8th when Mr Monti told Giorgio Napolitano, the president, that he intended to resign. By then, he had lost the support of Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PdL) movement. The 76-year-old Mr Berlusconi then said he would be his party’s candidate for prime minister. He later cast doubt on this, even making a bizarre offer to stand down if Mr Monti wanted to take over his party—a sign perhaps that the former prime minister senses that his candidacy risks becoming an embarrassing catastrophe. It has run into a barrage of international condemnation and even Mr Berlusconi’s old chums in the Northern League are hesitating about whether to renew their electoral alliance with the PdL.Mr…
