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Italian Premier Not Running
Italian Premier Giuliano Amato says he is not running in the country's elections this spring but he is staying in politics after leaving office.
In an interview on RAI state TV's evening newscast Sunday, Amato said he aims to ``form a great reformist'' party. There were no immediate details.
Amato is now leader of a center-left coalition that has chosen former Rome Mayor Francesco Rutelli as its candidate for premier in the May 13 election. Pitted against Rutelli is media magnate Silvio Berlusconi, a former conservative premier.
In the interview, Amato made clear he won't be seeking any parliamentary seat in the national election, but that his decision shouldn't be seen as abandoning politics.
Amato, in the 1980s and early '90s, was a leading Socialist close to Bettino Craxi, the former Socialist premier who died in self-exile in Tunisia after being discredited in corruption probes.
Amato, who earlier served as premier, emerged unscathed from the ``Clean Hands'' political power probes, which brought down the long-ruling Christian Democrats and their Socialist partners.
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