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| Italy on 'edge of abyss', says Silvio Berlusconi, offering a hand | Italy on 'edge of abyss', says Silvio Berlusconi, offering a hand |
| (4 months later) | |
| Italy woke up on Sunday to discover that politics was once again a world of bitter, personal attacks, sleight of hand, stunning egotism and shocking obsequiousness, meaning just one thing: Silvio Berlusconi was back. | Italy woke up on Sunday to discover that politics was once again a world of bitter, personal attacks, sleight of hand, stunning egotism and shocking obsequiousness, meaning just one thing: Silvio Berlusconi was back. |
| Overnight, the calm, grey world of Italy's technocrat prime minister, Mario Monti, vanished after the former EU commissioner said on Saturday he was resigning because Berlusconi, the 76-year-old media mogul and three-time prime minister, had withdrawn his parliamentary support. | Overnight, the calm, grey world of Italy's technocrat prime minister, Mario Monti, vanished after the former EU commissioner said on Saturday he was resigning because Berlusconi, the 76-year-old media mogul and three-time prime minister, had withdrawn his parliamentary support. |
| Hours earlier, Berlusconi had stood outside the gates of AC Milan, the football club he owns, declaring that after much soul-searching he would stand in elections, now likely in February. He boasted that after searching far and wide, he had failed to find a successor as brilliant as himself. | Hours earlier, Berlusconi had stood outside the gates of AC Milan, the football club he owns, declaring that after much soul-searching he would stand in elections, now likely in February. He boasted that after searching far and wide, he had failed to find a successor as brilliant as himself. |
| Monti's austerity polices, tax hikes and spending cuts had dragged Italy to "the edge of an abyss", Berlusconi said last week, before his MPs were ordered via text to walk out of key votes and his party secretary, Angelino Alfano, told parliament: "We consider the experience of this government closed." | Monti's austerity polices, tax hikes and spending cuts had dragged Italy to "the edge of an abyss", Berlusconi said last week, before his MPs were ordered via text to walk out of key votes and his party secretary, Angelino Alfano, told parliament: "We consider the experience of this government closed." |
| Alfano then accused the centre-left Democratic party – currently riding high in the polls – of communist tendencies, jolting Italians back to Berlusconi's heyday of claiming commies boiled babies alive. | Alfano then accused the centre-left Democratic party – currently riding high in the polls – of communist tendencies, jolting Italians back to Berlusconi's heyday of claiming commies boiled babies alive. |
| Gian Antonio Stella, a leading commentator with Corriere della Sera, lamented: "I thought we had got beyond all that; it is so unpleasant to return to the 'You are either for me or against me' version of politics. | Gian Antonio Stella, a leading commentator with Corriere della Sera, lamented: "I thought we had got beyond all that; it is so unpleasant to return to the 'You are either for me or against me' version of politics. |
| "Italians are sick of the Guelph and Ghibelline mentality, which cuts off the oxygen from political debate." | "Italians are sick of the Guelph and Ghibelline mentality, which cuts off the oxygen from political debate." |
| But for Berlusconi that vitriol is his lifeblood and he now has two months to turn up the heat on his TV channels and persuade Italians to take his side once again, following his resignation in November 2011 in the midst of sex scandals and an economic crisis that threatened to send Italy into meltdown. | But for Berlusconi that vitriol is his lifeblood and he now has two months to turn up the heat on his TV channels and persuade Italians to take his side once again, following his resignation in November 2011 in the midst of sex scandals and an economic crisis that threatened to send Italy into meltdown. |
| Monti's plan to resign at the end of the year after he passes the 2013 budget, bringing elections forward a month from March, deftly denies Berlusconi the pleasure of shooting down the government's remaining bills as they struggle to get through parliament. | Monti's plan to resign at the end of the year after he passes the 2013 budget, bringing elections forward a month from March, deftly denies Berlusconi the pleasure of shooting down the government's remaining bills as they struggle to get through parliament. |
| "The big question now is whether Monti himself wants to run as the head of a centrist group in the election," said Roberto D'Alimonte, a professor of politics at LUISS university in Rome. | "The big question now is whether Monti himself wants to run as the head of a centrist group in the election," said Roberto D'Alimonte, a professor of politics at LUISS university in Rome. |
| "The Democratic party should win the lower house but may not get an absolute majority in the senate so could form a coalition with a Monti-led centre. Both are pro-Europe, while Berlusconi will attack Germany, and hint that he wants, even if he doesn't explicitly call for, a pullout from the EU." | "The Democratic party should win the lower house but may not get an absolute majority in the senate so could form a coalition with a Monti-led centre. Both are pro-Europe, while Berlusconi will attack Germany, and hint that he wants, even if he doesn't explicitly call for, a pullout from the EU." |
| Berlusconi will also argue that Monti's austerity policies may have restored Italy's reputation with the markets but have raised taxes as joblessness soars. | Berlusconi will also argue that Monti's austerity policies may have restored Italy's reputation with the markets but have raised taxes as joblessness soars. |
| "You cannot get by on presumed international credibility," his family-owned newspaper claimed on Sunday, leaving analysts trembling at the idea of a Berlusconi government opening up the coffers. | "You cannot get by on presumed international credibility," his family-owned newspaper claimed on Sunday, leaving analysts trembling at the idea of a Berlusconi government opening up the coffers. |
| Nicholas Spiro, of Spiro Sovereign Strategy, said: "Italy needs a comeback from Berlusconi like it needs a hole in the head." | Nicholas Spiro, of Spiro Sovereign Strategy, said: "Italy needs a comeback from Berlusconi like it needs a hole in the head." |
| Berlusconi also attacked hammered Italy's magistrates at the weekend, calling them "irresponsible", raising suspicions that he wants a return to politics after his year on the sidelines to fight the judges who convicted him for tax fraud in October – a sentence he is appealing against – and who may find him guilty in January of paying an underage prostitute, a charge he denies. The woman in question, a Moroccan dancer Karima El-Mahroug, who could be called to court to testify on Monday, also denies having sex with the former prime minister at his mansion outside Milan. | Berlusconi also attacked hammered Italy's magistrates at the weekend, calling them "irresponsible", raising suspicions that he wants a return to politics after his year on the sidelines to fight the judges who convicted him for tax fraud in October – a sentence he is appealing against – and who may find him guilty in January of paying an underage prostitute, a charge he denies. The woman in question, a Moroccan dancer Karima El-Mahroug, who could be called to court to testify on Monday, also denies having sex with the former prime minister at his mansion outside Milan. |
| Another reminder of Berlusconi's swaggering glory years was the sheer obsequiousness with which the vast majority of his MPs swung back into line when they received their texted orders last week, after many had hinted he should spend more time with his grandchildren. Bouncing back to give interviews was Berlusconi's unwavering acolyte and former minister Sandro Bondi, noted for his poems eulogising the tycoon. | Another reminder of Berlusconi's swaggering glory years was the sheer obsequiousness with which the vast majority of his MPs swung back into line when they received their texted orders last week, after many had hinted he should spend more time with his grandchildren. Bouncing back to give interviews was Berlusconi's unwavering acolyte and former minister Sandro Bondi, noted for his poems eulogising the tycoon. |
| Few believe Berlusconi can actually win the election. "If he allies again with the Northern League party he might muster 25%, but the Democratic party won't drop below 30 and will get to 35% if they ally with the Left Ecology Freedom party," said D'Alimonte. | Few believe Berlusconi can actually win the election. "If he allies again with the Northern League party he might muster 25%, but the Democratic party won't drop below 30 and will get to 35% if they ally with the Left Ecology Freedom party," said D'Alimonte. |
| But the master campaigner has a deep wellspring of Italian discontent to tap into, as the average, single-income family of four faces a tax hike of €726 (£585) this year, just as the war on tax evaders, which Monti likens to fighting terrorism, frightens the thousands of shopkeepers and small-business owners who have turned fiddling their tax returns into Italy's national sport. | But the master campaigner has a deep wellspring of Italian discontent to tap into, as the average, single-income family of four faces a tax hike of €726 (£585) this year, just as the war on tax evaders, which Monti likens to fighting terrorism, frightens the thousands of shopkeepers and small-business owners who have turned fiddling their tax returns into Italy's national sport. |
| "I don't enter competitions to get a good result," Berlusconi said on Saturday. "With my character, I have always competed to win." | "I don't enter competitions to get a good result," Berlusconi said on Saturday. "With my character, I have always competed to win." |
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