Berlusconi pullout puts pressure on prime minister

Italian prime minister Enrico Letta was meeting the president last night to try to chart a way out of a deep political crisis after Silvio Berlusconi pulled his ministers out of the government and called for new elections.

President Giorgio Napolitano said he would only dissolve parliament as a last resort but just seven months after the last vote it is not clear if an alternative majority can be found.

Berlusconi, the centre- right former prime minister who was forced from office in Nov 2011 at the height of the eurozone debt crisis and faces a ban from parliament for tax fraud, has already launched his election campaign.