ROME: Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Sunday he was ready to govern the country again if called upon by a pro-reform coalition and attacked his predecessor Silvio Berlusconi ahead of elections in February.

“If one or more political forces adhere to my agenda and put forward the idea of proposing me for the post of premier, I would weigh the option,” the outgoing prime minister said at a news conference following his resignation on Friday.

The former high-flying European commissioner cannot formally be a candidate for the February 24-25 legislative election as he is already a senator-for-life.

But under Italy's electoral system he can take part in the campaign, add his name to ballot lists and be asked to lead the country by whoever wins.

“I cannot be a candidate because I am already a lifetime senator but it is important that if we want to go forward with reforms there needs to be an electoral mandate, a political mandate,” he said in a later interview.

“Some political forces want more from me than just to supply ideas and could indicate me as candidate for prime minister on their ballot lists,” he said, adding that people from both the right and the left could join his programme.

Ballot lists for the elections have to be submitted by January 11 -- a deadline which could clarify whether Monti is really in the running or not.

The 69-year-old Monti, a former economics professor who has been unelected prime minister since November last year, said his was an economic programme to “change Italy and reform Europe”.

He said the main point was not to turn the clock back on austerity measures and “destroy the sacrifices that everyone has made this year”.

Among the long list of reforms he said were still left to be done Monti listed an overhaul of Italy's “archaic” labour laws, root-and-branch changes to the painfully slow justice system and more equal opportunities for women.

Monti also took on the billionaire media tycoon Berlusconi, who is running in his sixth election in two decades, saying he had made proposals including the abolition of a new property tax that were “very dangerous and illusory”.

Berlusconi, who was convicted of tax fraud in October and is currently on trial for having sex with an underage prostitute, has begun a strident campaign against Monti’s economic policies and his possible bid for office.

He has taken to the airwaves and said Monti's government has been “a complete disaster” and he risks being “the little leader of a little party”.

Monti defended his record in government, saying Italy -- battling a two trillion euro debt mountain -- had managed to extract itself from the eurozone debt crisis without resorting to an international bailout.

He handed in his previously announced resignation on Friday after Berlusconi's People of Freedom party withdrew its support for his technocrat government in parliament, triggering early elections.

The February vote could now turn into a nail-biting three-way race between the scandal-tainted Berlusconi, former communist Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani and a Monti-backed reform coalition.

Opinion polls have so far tipped Bersani as the winner of the election but without an outright majority, which would require a coalition, but there is no poll yet on what Monti's role could change.

Bersani has said he will follow the broad course of reforms set by Monti but will face trade union pressure to moderate draconian austerity measures.

Berlusconi also remains a formidable campaigner and could benefit from a vote split between the centre and the left.

European leaders and Italian businesses have urged Monti to stay on, saying he has given Italy unprecedented stability at a particularly turbulent time.

He has also received the endorsement of the Roman Catholic Church, which is an influential political player in Italy and is wary of a leftist government that could back gay marriage and is also now virulently against Berlusconi.

But while Monti's austerity and bold reforms have received wide praise from investors and have rescued Italy from the brink of bankruptcy, they are increasingly unpopular among Italians who have been on the receiving end.

The economy is still stuck in a recession, unemployment is at record highs and consumption has fallen this year at its fastest rate since World War Two.

Monti's ratings have plunged from more than 60 per cent shortly after he took over in November last year to around 30 per cent in recent weeks.Another development to watch in the elections will be the rise of far-right and Eurosceptic movements that have tapped into rising social anger.

The populist Five Star Movement led by former comedian Beppe Grillo is also expected to do well, based on its anti-corruption, pro-environment campaign.—AFP