mr. berlusconi. i don't think he can forge a coalition which involves both parties and that in itself is a problem, particularly as there are also a number of people within his own party who would -- don't really like the way that he's gained power so there are a lot of -- it's a very, very rocky road ahead. >> yeah. to say the least. marc, you're with us for the first part of the show. >>> german chancellor angela merkel set to meet her coalition partners in a bit of a crisis in the forced exit of a conservative expert. annettea is there. why is this one more important than any other? >> actually, because it had a little bit of a dirty secret story behind it. allegedly the gentleman who left on late friday has told one of his spd colleagues more or less confidential information regarding someone else in the spd being investigated regarding allegations of having child pornography stuff at home so now the spd -- the csu is saying their minister actually only had to leave his job because he was honest

mr. berlusconi. talk about reputation. l -- when you have berlusconi in your system, everybody else looks consensus. what he does is generate an awful lot of room for everybody else to operate in. >> the guy is the second coming of machiavelli. he always seems to come up on top. be 250 years old but he is still there. he owns the tv station. his main advantage is that he is just sure that shameless. he doesn't care. he lets everything roll off him. he makes bill clinton look like a virgin bride. he has a huge advantage. >> this leads us also maybe to vladimir putin. >> and francois hollande. >> that is probably a little more shameful. why does nothing stick to him? >> berlusconi, first of all he does own the major tv station. that is just huge. number two, he has always seemed to have something on the people who are against him, either in his own party or whatever. to squeeze their elbows behind closed doors. [laughter] elbows is the polite word. i think also there is something to be said when you just will be shameless in

mr. berlusconi. how is he going to play in all of this? >> he has been the wild card in all of this. as he so frequently is. he was consulted over the weekend on what sort of role he will play. he said he wants to be part of a responsible opposition and was very clear that he wants to work with renzi on reforming the electoral law. atwood lead italy potentially -- that would lead italy potentially more towards a two-party system. if it is done, you could see a split between berlusconi and renzi. then you could have snap elections and calls for renzi to be a legitimate elected member of parliament avenue -- as prime minister. he would be the third prime minister who was not democratically elected. about italy'serns political stability if you keep having anointed prime minister's. >> we could say that the two-party system does not generally guarantee particularly effective government. we will leave it on that note. hans nichols joining us from berlin. >> anything is more effective than italian politics. even as botswana. >> not as entertaining. >> japan's fourth-quarter growth has fall

mr. renzi establishes legitimacy? it is being called a soft coup. berlusconis and berlusconi papers are criticizing it as a coup. the question is, will you be a legitimate italian prime minister? francine? >> the markets are up on the news. is this because they do not see it as a change because there is so much instability anyway? or is it because they see matteo renzi as a guy that will push and structural reforms? >> in some ways you're seeing the markets react positively this morning perhaps because renzi is in a better position to advance reforms that may be needed to make structural changes to the economy, structural changes to the bureaucracy. that is why you may be seeing a little bit of investor confidence this morning because there is a sense that letta's government was stuck and could not do the reforms that were necessary to heal this economy. >> they do so much. hans nichols. he has been covering the white house for a decade. i bet he has never seen politics italian style. ,on't let us is paolo scaroni one of the biggest business names in italy. ab