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Silvio Berlusconi's party riven over decision to pull out of coalition | Silvio Berlusconi's party riven over decision to pull out of coalition |
(about 3 hours later) | |
Silvio Berlusconi faced dissent within his People of Freedom (PdL) party on Monday, complicating his plans to bring down prime minister Enrico Letta's coalition government. | |
Berlusconi was also caught up in a new storm that further damaged his relations with President Giorgio Napolitano, after a private phone call in which Berlusconi criticised Napolitano was broadcast on TV. | |
Even if Letta survives a confidence vote on Wednesday, the prospects for stability and reform in Italy look more fragile than ever, as he will face a larger and stronger opposition backed by Berlusconi's media empire. | |
Letta's hopes of survival appear to rest on some 20 senators from Berlusconi's party, who are unhappy with his shock decision on Saturday to withdraw his ministers from Letta's government. | Letta's hopes of survival appear to rest on some 20 senators from Berlusconi's party, who are unhappy with his shock decision on Saturday to withdraw his ministers from Letta's government. |
Italian shares and bonds recovered some of their losses on financial markets after a party source told Reuters that the group of PdL moderates might be ready to back the government and break away from the PdL if Berlusconi does not soften his stance. | |
However, whether the dissidents are actually prepared to back Letta remains to be seen. They did not speak out at a PdL meeting on Monday where Berlusconi called for unity, repeated that the party must push for early elections, and did not open any internal debate, according to lawmakers present. | However, whether the dissidents are actually prepared to back Letta remains to be seen. They did not speak out at a PdL meeting on Monday where Berlusconi called for unity, repeated that the party must push for early elections, and did not open any internal debate, according to lawmakers present. |
"I asked for a debate and some explanation and I was told politely that it would wait for another occasion," PdL moderate lawmaker Fabrizio Cicchitto, one of the first to express any opposition to Berlusconi, told reporters after the meeting. | "I asked for a debate and some explanation and I was told politely that it would wait for another occasion," PdL moderate lawmaker Fabrizio Cicchitto, one of the first to express any opposition to Berlusconi, told reporters after the meeting. |
The airing of Berlusconi's phone call prompted a furious reaction from the president. | |
A current affairs programme on the private channel La 7 broadcast a phone tap in which Berlusconi said he had been informed that Napolitano had exerted influence on Italy's top appeals court in a case involving Berlusconi's media empire. | |
Berlusconi said he had heard that Napolitano called the court to find out the verdict before it had been announced and then told the court to reconvene, finally resulting in a more negative verdict for Berlusconi. | |
The 88-year-old president issued a fiercely worded statement saying that what Berlusconi said he had been told was "simply another delirious, vulgar and slanderous invention regarding the head of state". | |
Berlusconi's lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini said the decision to broadcast the conversation was "a violation of Italy's constitutional principles". Berlusconi's spokesman was not available for comment. | |
Berlusconi can ill afford to alienate Napolitano, who is the only person who can dissolve parliament and call new elections, as Berlusconi wants. | |
Relations have been increasingly tense between the two men since Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud last month. Many of Berlusconi's allies have criticised the president for not granting Berlusconi a pardon or intervening in the legal process in some other way to help their leader. | |
Napolitano has made clear his exasperation with Berlusconi's recent steps to undermine Letta's government. | |
Last week he described as "absurd" Berlusconi's claims that the judges who convicted him were guilty of subversion or a coup d'etat and repeated that neither he nor Letta could do anything to change the outcome of the trial. | |
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