Wednesday November 18, 2009

Weakened Berlusconi rules out early Italy vote

By Philip Pullella

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi ruled out early elections on Wednesday, rejecting a warning by the Senate speaker that splits in the government threatened its ability to stay in power.

Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi listens to a journalist's question as he addresses a news conference at Chigi Palace in Rome in this July 7, 2009 file photo. (REUTERS/Alessia Pierdomenico/Files)

"I am surprised to see reports that continue to make it seem that early elections are imminent," Berlusconi said in a statement. "I have never considered anything like that."

He promised his centre-right government would stay in power for the rest of the legislature's term, until 2013.

Commentators have spoken of a climate of nervousness in the coalition, saying that Berlusconi's judicial and personal problems have weakened his control over his allies.

Such talk came to a head on Tuesday night, when Senate speaker Renato Schifani said in a speech that unless the coalition healed its internal rifts the government would not survive until the end of its term.

Schifani's warning was splashed on the front pages of newspaper on Wednesday and commentators said they added weight to the possibility of early elections, particularly as Schifani is second only to the president in the institutional hierarchy.

Speaking to reporters later, Berlusconi said Schifani's comments had been "obvious", because he was merely ruling out that any new government could be formed with a different parliamentary majority if the current one fell. Elections would therefore be the only alternative.

"The crisis in the centre right, which has been dragging on for weeks, has suddenly become much more serious," an editorial on the front page of La Stampa newspaper said.

Berlusconi is due to return to the dock in two corruption trials resuming this month and in January. He lost his immunity from prosecution in October when Italy's highest court ruled that a law passed by his government was unconstitutional.

Centre-right lawmakers have proposed a reform of Italy's cumbersome judicial system and Berlusconi wants the entire centre right to close ranks and pass the legislation quickly.

While Berlusconi says the reforms will benefit all Italians, critics say they are just the latest in a string of tailor -made laws designed to help him avoid corruption trials.

BERLUSCONI UNDER ATTACK

The malaise in the coalition has deeper roots than Berlusconi's judicial problems.

Gianfranco Fini, Schifani's counterpart in the lower house of parliament and considered one of Berlusconi's heirs, has openly vented his discontent with the prime minister.

He has accused Berlusconi of behaving like "an absolute monarch" and said the atmosphere in the coalition was sometimes undemocratic and stifling like "air in an army barracks".

While Berlusconi has dismissed most of the opposition as "communists" with whom dialogue is impossible, Fini has said no government can enact lasting reform without the cooperation of the opposition.

A national newspaper owned by the Berlusconi family has made daily attacks on Fini, the former leader of the conservative National Alliance until it merged into the centre-right People of Freedom alliance, for making such comments.

Another coalition member, the Northern League, is unhappy with the government's economic policy and has demanded the governorship of two key northern regions in regional elections next March in exchange for supporting legislation.

Berlusconi said in his statement "the majority that supports the government is solid" despite "some internal dialectics", but one commentator said this only added to the political confusion.

"He is still transmitting an image of confusion. On the one hand, a very high institutional figure in the centre right is openly talking about early elections while Berlusconi is denying their possibility," Massimo Franco, a leading commentator for Corriere della Sera, told Reuters.

(Editing by Michael Roddy)

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