ROME | By Barbara Spinelli at La Repubblica via Presseurop | Silvio Berlusconi has been expelled by his peers from the Senate and stripped of his immunity in a long-awaited vote on November 27. Despite no longer being in Parliament, Il Cavaliere has indelibly left his mark on this era and society, writes Barbara Spinelli.
ROME | By La Stampa via Presseurop | The Senate voted to strip Silvio Berlusconi of his senator’s seat on November 27 following his conviction for tax fraud in August, reports La Stampa.
TURIN | By Marcello Sorgi at La Stampa via Presseurop | Silvio Berlusconi, repudiated by some of his associates, who forced him to back the vote of confidence in the Enrico Letta government, and in the process of being ousted from the Senate – a committee is to decide on October 4 whether he should be stripped of his seat – Il Cavaliere is moving towards an inevitable exit from the political stage.
MADRID | By Tania Suárez | Angelino Alfano, Berlusconi’s deputy and secretary of People of Freedom, defied “Il Cavaliere” and urged the party to unite behind Prime Minister Enrico Letta on Wednesday. It seems the end of Berlusconi’s political leadership is nearer now that all five ministers from the PDL are stepping down. But he won’t leave without a fight.
ITALY | Via Presseurop | Italy is in the midst of a political upheaval after the September 28 resignations of five ministers from the coalition government led by the Democratic Party’s Enrico Letta. Silvio Berlusconi’s decision to ask his ministers to resign is criticised by nearly all the country’s press.
THE CORNER’S FRIDAY WRAP-UP | Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, and writer Cicero, who vainly tried to uphold principles in the final civil wars that destroyed the Republic once told his traitor, Catilina: “Quosque tandem abutere Catilina patientia nostra” (How long, O Catiline, will you abuse our patience?). This week that very same Senate in Italy is preparing to expel Berlusconi, who is threatening to topple Prime Minister Letta.
By Tim Parks via Presseurop | ‘Vote me out of jail, or I will bring the country down with me’. This is the message Il Cavaliere has just sent to the Italian government, ahead of a Senate decision on whether he will lose his seat after being convicted of tax fraud. Such blackmail speaks volumes about the state of Italy in 2013, says British writer Tim Parks.
MADRID | In Italy, as in other southern eurozone countries, citizens cannot believe there will be light at the end of the austerity tunnel.
By Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, analyst at XTB | For all the noise these scandals bring about, the pressure on Merkel should not abate. The eurozone needs that Germany relaxes its stand on public investment cuts, and efficient measures to deal with sovereign debt should be agreed by core country members.
In his documentary “Girlfriend in a coma”, the former editor of The Economist Bill Emmott analyses the reasons for Italy’s insurmountable resistance to the necessary changes and reforms. An attitude it shares with many European countries, it partly explains why Silvio Berlusconi wants to get back in business.