Berlusconi refuses to quit despite further revelations

NOT FOR the first time, Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday defiantly rejected opposition calls for his resignation…

NOT FOR the first time, Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday defiantly rejected opposition calls for his resignation.

This following a weekend marked by further wiretap revelations within the ambit of the so-called Barigate investigation in Puglia.

Following the formal closing of the investigation last Friday, the weekend media were dominated by lengthy extracts from the case, in which 34-year-old Bari businessman Gianpaolo Tarantini is accused of having supplied prostitutes for parties at the prime minister’s private residences.

Opposition forces have expressed outrage at remarks made by the prime minister, in particular one comment from a November 2008 conversation with 26-year- old starlet Marysthell Polanco, a regular guest at Mr Berlusconi’s parties: “The thing is, Marysthell, I want to spend my days with my babes. I am a part-time prime minister. And because of that, all sorts of things happen to me.”

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The idea that the prime minister might be less than enthusiastic about his public role is also implicit in the contents of a conversation between him and Mr Tarantini on October 1st, 2008, in which he complains of his busy calendar, which includes meetings with the pope and heads of EU governments.

Although the Bari documents contain no trace of the widely reported insulting remarks made by the prime minister about German chancellor Angela Merkel, they do contain a disparaging reference to French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Whilst discussing the preparations for one of his parties with Gianpaolo Tarantini, he promises that he will invite “Gavi, the guy that does the imitation of Sarkozy”.

The Barigate investigation seems to provide ample evidence that not only Mr Tarantini, but also deputy Elvira Savino and Euro MP Licia Ronzulli, both members of Mr Berlusconi’s People Of Freedom (PDL) party, actively organised women to attend the prime minister’s parties.

Furthermore, wiretaps indicate that on at least one occasion, some of the “babes” travelled in the prime minister’s official aircraft.

Arguably more importantly, the investigations claim that the prime minister tried to facilitate Mr Tarantini’s attempts (ultimately unsuccessful) to “get into the public contracts milieu”.

Over the weekend, Pier Luigi Bersani, leader of the opposition Democratic Party (PD), argued that the most recent revelations should prompt the prime minister to resign.

“Is there a single reason in the world why Berlusconi should not resign?” he asked.

“We have to pull the plug on him, otherwise this country will pay a very high price, indeed is already paying a high price in the face of international opinion. What is happening now is simply humiliating for all Italians.”

Last Friday, Mr Bersani and fellow opposition leaders Nichi Vendola of the leftist SEL and Antonio Di Pietro, leader of the Italy of Values (IDV) party, appeared to lay the foundation stone for a future anti-Berlusconi, electoral alliance when meeting at the IDV’s annual party congress in Vasto.

While the opposition might be girding its loins for future electoral battle, Mr Berlusconi remains determined not to resign.

In an open letter to the daily Il Fogliolast weekend, he accused left wing "political-media-judicial" circles of trying to entrap him.

He claimed that for three years he had been subjected to surveillance that was intended to depict him as “something that I am not”, trying to deform his private life, “which may or may not please”, but which is “private, reserved and beyond reproach”.

Mr Berlusconi is due in court in Milan this morning for another hearing of the so-called Mills case.

The prime minister had originally intended to travel to New York for the General Assembly of the United Nations, but has changed his plans to be in court today.