After months and months of dropping hints, Silvio Berlusconi has confirmed that yes, he will be running to be Prime Minister of Italy again.

According to reports in Italian press, Angelino Alfano, Secretary of the PDL, said "Berlusconi is on the field" and will lead the PDL at the next election in 2013.

Alfano also said that scheduled PDL primaries will no longer take place.

Earlier in the day, Berlusconi's PDL party had threatened to pull their support for Mario Monti's technocrat government, sending markets tumbling. “We can’t go on like this,” Berlusconi said yesterday in a statement saying he was considering running. “I can’t allow my country to precipitate in a recessionary spiral without end.”

Monti had been installed to lead Italy after Berlusconi quit in November 2011 following mass protests and financial chaos.