Could Italy's Teflon premier come back? Berlusconi allies call for return to politics

Enlarge Image

Luca Bruno / The Associated Press archives Silvio Berlusconi resigned amid sex and corruption scandals, leaving Italy in financial shambles. (CP)

ROME -- When Silvio Berlusconi resigned after dominating Italy's political scene for two decades, he left a country in financial shambles and a personal legacy tarnished by sex and corruption scandals.

Commentators called it the end of an era.

Eight months later, the political world is abuzz with signs the 75-year-old media mogul is plotting a return to power even his closest allies had considered impossible.

Even as his one-time friend, now bitter foe, Gianfranco Fini appeared incredulous in a television interview Thursday night -- saying "Italians no longer believe in miracles" -- Berlusconi's allies were talking him up.

"He's our strongest candidate," said former justice minister Angelino Alfano, previously considered Berlusconi's heir apparent.

Berlusconi himself has yet to commit, but his friends are now openly calling him a candidate and spreading reports that business leaders are pushing him to enter the race for elections next spring. He reportedly has designed a new symbol for his party -- a kite in the Italian tricolour.

Excitement had been building among backers who thought he might formally announce his candidacy at a political meeting Friday at a Rome hotel. Instead, after hours of waiting, Alfano, secretary of the Freedom People party that Berlusconi created, told reporters Berlusconi "sends his regards" because he wouldn't be coming due to an unspecified "commitment."

So what's changed from the November night when, following his resignation, he left the presidential palace by a back door to avoid jeering demonstrators? The arrival of an increasingly unpopular austerity program aimed largely at reversing the excesses of his era.

Berlusconi, a three-time former premier, has always claimed to be attuned to the popular mood, demonstrated with moves such as abolishing the property tax on first homes to spur his victory in 2008 elections. His successor at the head of a technocrat government, economics professor Mario Monti, has given Italy an air of respectability in European and international circles, but his economic recovery package is causing more pain than growth.

In what has become a symbol of that pain, Monti restored the property tax in one of his first acts as premier.

As Monti's approval sinks, so do Italy's economic prospects.

On Thursday, credit ratings agency Moody's Investors Service downgraded Italy's government bond rating two notches on concerns deteriorating financial conditions in Europe will lead to a sharp rise in borrowing costs. At the same time, Italy's industrial association warned the nation is mired in recession with no sign of recovery.

One of Monti's chief economic advisers called the Moody's downgrade "unjustified," saying it failed to take into account what the Monti government has done.

Monti made it clear this week he has no intention to seek office after his term ends next spring.

The newspaper La Repubblica, one of Berlusconi's staunchest opponents, claims the possibility the media mogul might come back "terrorizes Brussels," referring to the European Union that has been demanding reforms from debt-laden Italy. It said many in Brussels fear Berlusconi would undo Monti's reform program, although his party has been supporting it in parliament.

Italy's leading newspaper, Corriere della Sera, said Berlusconi's camp has figures showing his party could win as much as 28 per cent of the vote with Berlusconi on the ticket, compared to 10 per cent without him. Nearly 30 per cent would not be enough to win the election but could make Berlusconi a major player in any coalition.

Berlusconi's allies in the media circulate photos of him jogging to stay in shape, holding family reunions and looking after his AC Milan soccer team. Meanwhile, his media foes have gleefully shown him boarding his corporate jet accompanied by a bevy of beautiful women.

Berlusconi has made only occasional appearances at his trial in Milan on charges of having sex with an underage woman and then using his office to try to cover it up.

He has been quoted as saying Italy should leave the common euro currency and print its own money, then backtracked, leaving it unclear what his financial rescue plan might be.

-- The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 14, 2012 A27