Berlusconi in the Political Dock as Panel Mulls Expulsion
Bloomberg: Silvio Berlusconi’s fate in Italian politics hangs in the balance as a Senate panel convenes a public session on whether an August tax-fraud conviction requires his expulsion from the upper house.
The hearing caps a week of turmoil in Rome that followed Berlusconi’s failed bid to bring down the five-month-old coalition he forged with Prime Minister Enrico Letta. The effort collapsed two days ago due to a mutiny in his People of Liberty party led by Deputy Premier Angelino Alfano, leaving the billionaire vulnerable to counter-attack.
Berlusconi’s possible ouster “would of course worsen the atmosphere,” Lucio Malan, a panel member and Berlusconi ally, said yesterday in Bloomberg Television interview. It “would be of course against any kind of decent relations between coalition partners,” Malan said.
Berlusconi’s legal troubles led to the political upheaval, with Letta’s Democratic Party saying Berlusconi’s eviction is mandated by a 2012 anti-corruption law. The former premier’s allies and lawyers counter that it would be unconstitutional to apply the statute retroactively since his conviction stems from a case before the law existed.
“The life of the government and the decision of the committee on his mandate as senator have overlapped each other in the last few weeks in a crescendo of turbulence,” Letta told lawmakers. “The situation became unsustainable.”
The 23-member committee started around 9:30 a.m. in Rome. Berlusconi is not attending.
Italy’s 10-year bond yield dropped 5 basis points at 10:39 a.m. to 4.32 percent, pushing the difference with comparable German Bunds to 250.5 basis points. The benchmark FTSE MIB index rose 1 percent to 18,193.
48 Hours
The committee has 48 hours to decide, according to the Senate website, though a vote may come by this afternoon.
If the committee recommends stripping Berlusconi of his Senate seat, the matter will be put before the entire Senate for a final vote in the next few weeks.
Italy’s highest court on Aug. 1 upheld Berlusconi’s conviction for tax fraud, sentencing him to four years in prison. While a Milan appeals court still has to determine the length of Berlusconi’s ban from public office, the Senate has already acted. That is due to the anti-corruption lawpassed in December 2012 that prevents seeking election for at least six years after receiving a sentence of more than two years of jail.
The committee should wait to take a decision until a European Union court rules on the applicability of the law, Ansa reported Sept. 28, citing Berlusconi’s written defense. “In Berlusconi’s written defense there aren’t, in my opinion, any issues raised different than those we have already been through,” Benedetto Della Vedova, a lawmaker from the Civic Choice party and member of the panel, told reporters before the debate.
Tensions Seen
Renewed political tensions would be inevitable if the Democrats “vote to apply a law approved in 2012 to facts that supposedly took place, if they did at all because there were no proofs at all of this tax fraud, but anyway facts that supposedly happened in 2004,” Malan said.
A motion to halt expulsion proceedings against Berlusconi was rejected on Sept. 19 in a vote by the Senate committee.
Berlusconi, 77, must decide by mid-October whether to serve his four-year sentence, which should be reduced to one year due to a law against prison overcrowding, under house arrest or perform community service. He’s unlikely to spend a day in jail, also because of leniency to those older than 70.
Berlusconi maintains his innocence in all cases against him, saying he’s the victim of a political vendetta.
Berlusconi’s People of Liberty party canceled a demonstration originally planned for today at 5 p.m. in Rome’s Piazza Farnese.
Confidence Vote
Letta won a confidence vote Oct. 2 after Berlusconi pulled his ministers from the government Sept. 28, setting off a week of turmoil. Cracks in his PDL began to show when prominent figures said they’d vote for the government.
The turning point came Oct. 1 when Alfano broke away from his mentor and declared his support for Letta, 47.
Berlusconi, forced out as prime minister in 2011, brought down his successor, Mario Monti, in December 2012. The fragmented parliament elected in February has been incapable of enacting a program to pull Italy from its two-year recession. This week’s crisis blocked the approval of economic measures including the delay of a planned VAT increase.
reporters on this story: Lorenzo Totaro in Rome