Saddled with prosecution, an old warhorse falters
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday October 10, 2009
As the mud flies at Silvio Berlusconi, he continues to behave normally by acting crazy. Rachel Donadio reports. Beset by an "absurd" Constitutional Court ruling stripping him of his exemption from prosecution while Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi remained his defiant self. His government, he said this week, would "forge ahead calmly".But now that he faces fresh prosecution in the corruption trials that have dogged him for decades, the normally charismatic and cheerful Berlusconi seemed anything but calm. In radio and television interviews, the Prime Minister, also under pressure from sex scandals and restiveness among his own centre-right political allies, seemed so embattled that many Italian observers wondered if he was losing his grip €“ if not on the country then certainly on his temper.Calling in to a television talk show on Wednesday, Berlusconi delivered a highly unusual attack on the nation's mild-mannered President, Giorgio Napolitano, 84. He accused the President, who holds a position normally considered above the political fray, of stacking the court with leftist judges €“ remarks that prompted Napolitano to call a meeting on Thursday with the speakers of the House and Senate to help avert an institutional crisis.When a guest on the show, Rosy Bindi, a senior Democratic Party MP, protested that Berlusconi's attacks undermined the authority of the office of president, he told her curtly, "You are always more beautiful than intelligent." Bindi, 58 and one of the few women in Italian public life with grey hair, responded drily: "Mr Prime Minister, I am a woman who is not at your disposal."The drama underscored yet again that Berlusconi is more Technicolour than technocratic. "If today Berlusconi acted more normally I'd say he had gone crazy," said Gianluca Nicoletti, a radio commentator. "The paradox is that the people would think he's crazy if he started acting normally."And the tenor of the debate provided yet more evidence that Italy's public life centres on the larger-than-life personality, and personal problems, of Berlusconi €“ to the exclusion of almost everything else."Whatever happens, good or bad, he's still the protagonist in all his glory," Nicoletti said.Vowing on radio on Thursday to show Italians that the charges against him were "ridiculous," his voice seemed strained. "These two trials are laughable. I will defend myself in the courtrooms and ridicule my accusers, showing Italians my true grit."Berlusconi has been defending himself for months against sex scandals involving young women and at least one prostitute who said they were paid to attend his lavish parties. The Prime Minister has denied any impropriety, but has also told Italians, "I'm not a saint."Wednesday's court ruling struck down as unconstitutional a law granting immunity from prosecution to the nation's four highest office holders while in office. The law had suspended Berlusconi's participation in a corruption trial where a judge in February found his British tax lawyer, David Mills, guilty of taking $US600,000 in exchange for false testimony. That trial will begin from scratch before a new judge with Berlusconi as a defendant.On Thursday, Berlusconi noted that he had been elected by popular vote. He governs with a broad parliamentary majority. Since he entered politics in 1994, Berlusconi has repeatedly accused magistrates of leftist bias.Despite all the drama surrounding the ruling, few Italian commentators predicted a radical change of regime. Nor did they think that the left would capitalise on Berlusconi's weaknesses. The main opposition, the Democratic Party, is beset by infighting and has yet to elect a new leader more than six months after its previous one stepped down.The New York Times
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
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