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Italy’s play-boy Prime Minister:
Berlusconi faces confidence vote amid infighting
And an array of sex scandals:
ITALY: Italy’s centre-right government faces a crucial confidence
vote in parliament on Friday after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
warned his numerous critics that trying to bring him down could trigger
financial turmoil.
Barring any major upsets, Berlusconi’s coalition is expected to pass
the vote but the margin is likely to be narrow and unlikely to put an
end to the infighting that has plagued the government for weeks during
tough economic times.
“There is no alternative to this government,” the scandal-tainted
75-year-old prime minister told parliament on Thursday, saying that the
opposition was “united only by its anti-Berlusconism.”
“Early elections would not solve the problems we have,” he said,
adding: “A political crisis now would mean victory for the party of
decline, catastrophe and speculation.”
Berlusconi has been forced to turn to parliament to confirm its
support after the ruling coalition suffered an embarrassing setback on
Tuesday when it was unexpectedly defeated in a low-profile but key
technical vote. “I am here and with me I have a politically cohesive
majority, apart from some incidents in parliament,” he said on Thursday.
The defeat in parliament has revived talk about possible plots
against an embattled Berlusconi from within the government’s own ranks.
Debate on the confidence vote is expected to start at around 1030
GMT. Daniela Santanche, a close ally and deputy from Berlusconi’s People
of Freedom party, said the confidence vote would allow a shaken
government to “patch things up” for now. The government was defeated by
just one vote when it tried to pass the 2010 state balance sheet,
creating an unprecedented problem. Italy now cannot approve the
country’s upcoming budget until previous accounts have been ratified,
and the process could take several days.
Berlusconi’s popularity is at an all-time low, with the latest poll
from last month giving him a 24-percent approval rating.
He is also a defendant in three trials for bribery, tax fraud, abuse
of power and paying for sex with a 17-year-old girl, and at the centre
of an array of other sex scandals. AFP |
