Could this be the right time? Is Italy finally going to get rid of this pathetic excuse for a Prime Minister? Berluscummy is hanging onto power, he keeps saying that everything is ok but he reminds me of Saddam Hussein (or his cohorts) in their final days. They kept claiming victory after victory against the invading forces… whilst ignoring that the enemy was marching triumphantly towards Baghdad.
This article is published courtesy of the Financial Times:
Italy’s constitutional court on Tuesday morning opened deliberations to decide whether Silvio Berlusconi, prime minister, should continue to enjoy immunity from prosecution under a law passed last year by parliament.
The court – which could come to a decision within the day, or defer its ruling until next week – is to to determine whether the act breaches an article of the constitution making all citizens equal before the law.
A decision against the government would lead to the reopening of at least two court cases involving allegations of corruption against the billionaire prime minister and media entrepreneur. That prospect has triggered widespread speculation of early elections.
In 2004 the court rejected a similar amnesty law passed by Mr Berlusconi’s previous centre-right government. His lawyers said the latest law was passed with amendments that took into consideration the court’s previous ruling.
Legal experts said one option for the constitutional court would be to send the immunity law back to parliament with the advice that the act required approval by a two-thirds majority rather than the simple majority it received last year.
A defiant Mr Berlusconi, elected last year, said on Monday he intended to serve his full term until 2013 in spite of accusations issued by a Milan court in a civil case that he had been “co-responsible” as head of his Fininvest media company for the bribing of a judge in a 1991 court case that resulted in Fininvest beating a rival to acquire the Mondadori publishing house. In 2007, that criminal case against Mr Berlusconi was dropped.
Mr Berlusconi’s supporters on Wednesday dismissed speculation that the government intended to call early elections or that the prime minister would resign and make way for an interim administration headed by technocrats.
“Italians gave a large majority to this government,” Altero Matteoli, infrastrucuture minister, told Sky Italia television. “He is the only prime minister in the world with such a high approval rating in this financial crisis,” he said, adding that he awaited the constitutional court’s ruling with serenity.
Mr Berlusconi has repeatedly accused elements of the Italian judiciary of conspiring against him. The 15 judges of the constitutional court are clearly under pressure as revealed in statements by the prime minister’s aides demanding that they address the legality of the case and not take a political decision. This week’s deliberations were scheduled before the Milan court issued its ruling.
The centre-right government said the immunity law, applied to the four holders of high state office, was necessary to allow Mr Berlusconi to devote himself to running the country.
At the time the law was passed, Mr Berlusconi was a co-defendant in a case in which he was charged with bribing David Mills, his former UK lawyer, to give false testimony to protect him and Fininvest. The trial continued without Mr Berlusconi, and Mr Mills, who has appealed against his conviction, was found guilty in February. Delivering its reasoning in May, the court explicitly accused Mr Berlusconi of being behind the bribe.
Both men pleaded not guilty. Should Mr Berlusconi be stripped of his immunity, then, lawyers say, his trial would start from the beginning under different judges.
Mr Berlusconi was also the defendant in a separate case alleging fraud in the purchase of film rights for Mediaset, his television company. Mr Berlusconi denied wrongdoing.
According to media reports, two other cases against Mr Berlusconi are in their preliminary stages. One involves Mediaset and the other an investigation into whether he tried to corrupt two senators in 2007 to withdraw their support from the then centre-left government led by Romano Prodi with a slim majority.
This article is published courtesy of the Financial Times:
Italy’s constitutional court on Tuesday morning opened deliberations to decide whether Silvio Berlusconi, prime minister, should continue to enjoy immunity from prosecution under a law passed last year by parliament.
The court – which could come to a decision within the day, or defer its ruling until next week – is to to determine whether the act breaches an article of the constitution making all citizens equal before the law.
A decision against the government would lead to the reopening of at least two court cases involving allegations of corruption against the billionaire prime minister and media entrepreneur. That prospect has triggered widespread speculation of early elections.
In 2004 the court rejected a similar amnesty law passed by Mr Berlusconi’s previous centre-right government. His lawyers said the latest law was passed with amendments that took into consideration the court’s previous ruling.
Legal experts said one option for the constitutional court would be to send the immunity law back to parliament with the advice that the act required approval by a two-thirds majority rather than the simple majority it received last year.
A defiant Mr Berlusconi, elected last year, said on Monday he intended to serve his full term until 2013 in spite of accusations issued by a Milan court in a civil case that he had been “co-responsible” as head of his Fininvest media company for the bribing of a judge in a 1991 court case that resulted in Fininvest beating a rival to acquire the Mondadori publishing house. In 2007, that criminal case against Mr Berlusconi was dropped.
Mr Berlusconi’s supporters on Wednesday dismissed speculation that the government intended to call early elections or that the prime minister would resign and make way for an interim administration headed by technocrats.
“Italians gave a large majority to this government,” Altero Matteoli, infrastrucuture minister, told Sky Italia television. “He is the only prime minister in the world with such a high approval rating in this financial crisis,” he said, adding that he awaited the constitutional court’s ruling with serenity.
Mr Berlusconi has repeatedly accused elements of the Italian judiciary of conspiring against him. The 15 judges of the constitutional court are clearly under pressure as revealed in statements by the prime minister’s aides demanding that they address the legality of the case and not take a political decision. This week’s deliberations were scheduled before the Milan court issued its ruling.
The centre-right government said the immunity law, applied to the four holders of high state office, was necessary to allow Mr Berlusconi to devote himself to running the country.
At the time the law was passed, Mr Berlusconi was a co-defendant in a case in which he was charged with bribing David Mills, his former UK lawyer, to give false testimony to protect him and Fininvest. The trial continued without Mr Berlusconi, and Mr Mills, who has appealed against his conviction, was found guilty in February. Delivering its reasoning in May, the court explicitly accused Mr Berlusconi of being behind the bribe.
Both men pleaded not guilty. Should Mr Berlusconi be stripped of his immunity, then, lawyers say, his trial would start from the beginning under different judges.
Mr Berlusconi was also the defendant in a separate case alleging fraud in the purchase of film rights for Mediaset, his television company. Mr Berlusconi denied wrongdoing.
According to media reports, two other cases against Mr Berlusconi are in their preliminary stages. One involves Mediaset and the other an investigation into whether he tried to corrupt two senators in 2007 to withdraw their support from the then centre-left government led by Romano Prodi with a slim majority.
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