Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Friday he intends to complete his five-year term in office despite a worsening political crisis in the country.

"I have a sense of responsibility to Italy ... I am not anxious because the decisions I take will always be in the best interests of the country," Berlusconi told reporters.

But the prime minister said he did not rule out the possibility of meeting President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi to discuss his resignation.

"We're working (on the problem). I personally am not ruling anything out," he said.

Berlusconi's ruling center-right coalition is still reeling from its defeat in regional elections earlier this month.

Since then, he has been under mounting pressure from his allies to make sweeping changes to the government line-up and program. There have even been calls for an early general election which is officially scheduled for next year.

Earlier in the day, Italy's centrist Union of Christian Democrats (UDC) party, which has four ministers in the cabinet, decided to withdraw from Berlusconi's government in an apparent bid to make Berlusconi resign and then form a new government with a new policy.

Berlusconi, who has said he would not accept a major overhaul of his government, must now decide whether to try to forge ahead with the three remaining major coalition partners or enter negotiations with the UDC on the formation of a new administration.

Alternatively, he could resign and refuse to head a new government.

Berlusconi, the country's longest-serving postwar prime minister, came to power in 2001 on a pledge of lowering taxes.