President Napolitano is to hold discussions on Italy’s political crisis with the speakers of both parliamentary chambers this afternoon. The Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies is Gianfranco Fini, a former ally of Mr Berlusconi but now his strongest rival. Mr Fini further weakened the government on Monday by pulling four ministers loyal to him out of the Coalition.
Mr Berlusconi has been fighting calls for his resignation ever since the “Ruby” scandal broke and has fought back by saying that he will never resign. He has dared his opponents to challenge him in a vote of no confidence. It now seems that this is exactly what will happen but not until after the passing of the Budget, probably in mid-December. Civil Service Minister Renato Brunetta has said that the Budget will be passed and that Opposition ministers would be able to do no better than the government in these hard times. President Napolitano has welcomed the decision to give the Budget priority.
The Premier has said that he is confident of winning a no confidence vote but that if he loses in the Chamber of Deputies, there will be elections, but only for the lower house. In a telephone call to his party faithful he said that 60% of Italians are still behind him and he counselled people not to believe what they read in the newspapers. He also found time to criticise the State broadcaster, Rai.
Last night Italians ignored the Premier’s advice as a record 9 million people watched the Raitre show, “Vieni via con me” in which Gianfranco Fini and Democratic Party Secretary Pier Luigi Bersani read speeches about the values of the political right and left respectively.
Commentators in Italy now generally agree that the days of the Berlusconi government are numbered.
