THE EMBATTLED Italian prime minister has come out fighting on the eve of another crucial vote in parliament this morning.
Addressing a half-empty lower house yesterday, which had been deserted in protest by opposition parties, Silvio Berlusconi rejected calls for his resignation, saying that to change government at this time would be irresponsible and potentially damaging for Italy.
Mr Berlusconi has had to call this morning’s confidence vote in the wake of the government’s failure on Tuesday to have the 2010 state balance sheet approved in parliament.
Opposition forces have argued that not only should such a government defeat prompt the prime minister’s resignation but also that it is proof that Mr Berlusconi no longer has a workable parliamentary majority, partly as a result of extensive internal dissent in his People of Freedom party.
Mr Berlusconi and his closest advisers reject that interpretation, arguing that the lost vote was merely a “technical” setback and the government will win this morning’s vote easily.
During a cabinet meeting yesterday morning, Mr Berlusconi reportedly told his ministers that he expected to emerge with a comfortable 320-strong vote today.
In his 20-minute speech, the Italian prime minister repeatedly stressed the current delicate moment of the global economic crisis, alluding to the fact that Italy and Italian government bonds have repeatedly come under attack from market speculation in the past three months.
Furthermore, he said, the government’s programme envisaged a series of badly needed constitutional, fiscal and judicial reforms.
“This government is asking for a vote of confidence because we are profoundly aware of the risks that the country is running at the moment and because the diktats of the markets do not correspond with certain political liturgies.”
Mr Berlusconi said there was “no credible alternative to this government”, adding that the opposition was “united only by anti-Berlusconismo but it is totally divided when it comes to economic policies”.
“An early election or an institutional government won’t solve the country’s problems,” he said.
Inevitably, Mr Berlusconi failed to convince his opponents.
Speaker of the lower house Gianfranco Fini, a former ally and now bitter rival, told fellow Future and Freedom party members afterwards that not even Mr Berlusconi believed what he said in parliament. Rather, Mr Fini argued that an early general election was “getting closer all the time”.
Senior Democratic Party figure Enrico Letta said the speech indicated clearly that Mr Berlusconi would “call an early election in March”, adding that the unity of intent shown by the opposition parties in abandoning the chamber yesterday was proof that there was a credible alternative to Mr Berlusconi.