Italy: Enrico Letta survives confidence vote after Berlusconi backtracks
Silvio Berlusconi, left, listens to People of Freedom party senators at the Senate, in Rome, Wednesday, October 2.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Prime Minister Enrico Letta handily wins a confidence vote in the Italian Senate
- He is also expected to win a confidence vote in the lower house of Parliament
- Silvio Berlusconi drops a bid to topple the government, says his party backs Letta
- Berlusconi could lose his Senate seat after a conviction for tax fraud was upheld
The threat receded
shortly before the vote when former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
unexpectedly dropped his bid to topple the government, saying his
party's lawmakers would support the motion.
Berlusconi's move came
after members of his center-right People of Freedom Party signaled they
would defy his orders and back the government.
The lower house of
parliament is still scheduled to vote on a motion of confidence in
Letta's government later Wednesday. However, the prime minister has a
majority in that chamber and is not in serious danger of losing the
vote.
Before the senators
voted, Letta, of the center-left Democratic Party, appealed for their
backing, warning that Italy faced a "fatal" risk with the confidence
vote.
Letta, who took office
five months ago, argued that the country needs political stability to
help its recovery from its economic woes.
"A government and
political crisis would only mean more economic difficulties," he told
lawmakers. "It means not going through with the reforms needed to boost
the economy and help the unemployed and the country. It means that the
rest of Europe still looks at us as 'the unfixable' messy country."
The crisis was triggered
when Berlusconi on Saturday ordered ministers from his party to pull out
of the fragile coalition government.
But the former prime
minister's political gamble appears to have divided his own party,
resulting in his sudden climbdown. Italian news agency Ansa had earlier
cited People of Freedom Party member Carlo Giovanardi
Observers speculate that
the reported fracturing within Berlusconi's party could be the
beginning of the end of his checkered political career.
"I definitely do not
believe that this time around Mister Berlusconi can escape his fate,"
Former Prime Minister Mario Monti told CNN's Christiane Amanpour
Wednesday from Rome. "He has been pronounced defeated and out of
politics many, many times in the past. He has given proof of an
incredible resilience, but I believe this time he will not."
On Friday, Berlusconi
will be the subject of a parliamentary committee that will consider
whether he should lose his Senate seat after a conviction for tax fraud
was upheld by Italy's supreme court two months ago. He has insisted the
prosecutions against him are politically motivated.
In an apparent reference
to Berlusconi's legal difficulties, Letta told senators Wednesday that
they must make a distinction between the judicial troubles of
Berlusconi, or any other member of parliament, and the job of the
executive.
Letta said reforms to
pull Italy out of recession must continue, and that political stability
is the key to boosting growth and creating more jobs. Italians want to
see their elected representatives govern, not indulge in political
drama, he said.
He appealed to the Senate to have the courage and strength to back the confidence motion, for the sake of the country.
The formation of the coalition government in April ended weeks of uncertainty following inconclusive elections in February.
Berlusconi, who served
on and off as prime minister between 1994 and 2011, has dominated the
lively history of Italian politics for the past two decades.
For years, he has also been entangled in fraud, corruption and sex scandals that have often reached the Italian courts.
He is currently appealing a prison sentence handed down in June for abuse of power and having sex with an underage prostitute.
No comments:
Post a Comment