22 August 2013

FT: Italy's coalition hit by internal rifts

The stability of Italy's ruling coalition led by Enrico Letta has been hit by widening rifts over the political future of Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister convicted of tax fraud this month.

Mr Letta and his deputy Angelino Alfano, secretary of Mr Berlusconi’s PDL party, remain at odds after failing to agree about Mr Berlusconi’s conviction after a meeting. Mr Alfano is opposing a ban from politics for the former prime minister, while Mr Letta and his Democratic party insist it is not a decision for the government to make.

“I think that the government must stay [out] and watch, as it is the Senate which must carry out its duty”, said Anna Maria Cancellieri, justice minister, referring to a vote in the upper chamber that could strip Mr Berlusconi of his seat in parliament.

The vote, required by a corruption law approved last December, could lead to the exclusion of Mr Berlusconi from national politics, removing him from the Senate and barring him from running for elections or campaigning for his party.

Mr Berlusconi’s party is challenging the validity of the corruption law and is raising the possibility of bringing it to the Constitutional court to rule on its legitimacy.

“We very clearly ask the Democratic party to reflect on the possibility to vote against the suspension of Mr Berlusconi”, Mr Alfano said, adding that the PDL was “alarmed and worried” about the attitude of the Democrats.

Mr Berlusconi has pledged to support the coalition, which rests on cohesion between his PDL and the Democrats. But centre-right MPs have threatened to resign if the vote goes against Mr Berlusconi and have presented demands to Mr Letta for their continued support. A first test for the coalition’s stability will be a decision over a controversial property tax that the PDL wants to abolish.

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