Italy’s Longest-Running Postwar Government Falls

ROME —  Socialist Premier Bettino Craxi today submitted the resignation of Italy’s longest-running government since the end of World War II, the presidential palace said.

Craxi submitted the government’s resignation to President Francesco Cossiga after a Cabinet meeting of the five-party coalition. Cossiga asked Craxi to remain on as a caretaker premier until a new government is formed.

The political crisis arose Thursday night when the centrist coalition lost a series of key parliamentary votes.

Formed Aug. 4, 1983, Craxi’s government has been in power longer than any of Italy’s 43 previous postwar Cabinets.

Craxi returned to Rome this morning after cutting short his trip to The Hague, where he was attending a summit meeting of the 12-nation Common Market.

“Whenever I am away, something like this happens,” Craxi told reporters at the Rome airport on his return from The Hague.

The parliamentary defeat was a blow to the government of the dominant Christian Democrats, the Socialists and the small Republican, Social Democrat and Liberal parties. The coalition commands an absolute majority in both houses of Parliament.

The defeat came on key votes in the lower house of Parliament to reject a proposal to investigate reports of slush funds at IRI, Italy’s largest state-run holding company, and to defeat a major bill on streamlining local financing.