The financial implications of Italy's election stalemate could be worse than Greece

The man who is likely to be Italy's next Prime Minister for a short time at least, Pier Luigi Bersani, gave a very downbeat speech today.

He said that although they came first in the Italian election, they didn't win it.

There's a similar downbeat mood across Europe, where apart from telling Italians they must stick with their programme whatever their people say, there's a realisation this could affect them all.

A senior aide to Chancellor Merkel says that the financial crisis in Europe may come roaring back.

We well remember what happened when Greece rejected austerity, and although Italy's much bigger, the implications could be that much worse.

Read: More on the Italian election which ended in a political stalemate.