Berlusconi says will run to become Italy's next PM

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Saturday he would run to become the country's leader for a fifth time, and that his PDL party would vote to pass next year's budget.

"I'm returning sadly to public service," Berlusconi told reporters on the sidelines of the practice field for his AC Milan soccer club broadcast by his 24-hour news channel TGCOM24. "And again I'm doing it out of a sense of responsibility."

Berlusconi announced he would run in his sixth national election just two days after his People of Liberty party withdrew support for Mario Monti's government, bringing the country close to a snap election a few months short of the natural end of the legislature.