Prodi treft voorbereidingen voor terugkeer in nationale politiek (en)

Outgoing European Commission President Romano Prodi has called for primary elections in Italy, in the US style, to choose the person who will head Italy's centre-left Ulivo coalition ahead of the next elections.

Although Mr Prodi ends his term as Commission head in October, he has for months been preparing his entry into the Italian domestic political scene, and has said he will launch his campaign immediately after his term in Brussels ends.

Throwing down the gauntlet to arch rival Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Mr Prodi said:

"I am back to win and I will start touring Italy in November, in each and every city, in order to re-launch the Ulivo project and to boost the centre-left", he said last week in a long letter to the Espresso weekly.

Mr Prodi has said the centre-left is ready "to take on general elections at any time if and when the government were to fall through as a result of an internal crisis".

In the last few months, the centre-right governing coalition has faced several crises, with Mr Berlusconi struggling to keep his fractured four-party coalition together.