Berlusconi will stand in European elections, says adviser

Centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi wants to contest this summer’s European elections, notwithstanding his conviction last summer for tax fraud, according to his new political adviser Giovanni Toti.

Under the terms of the so-called Severino law, Mr Berlusconi’s conviction not only prompted his November expulsion from the senate but it also prohibits him from standing for public office (including the European parliament) for six years.

Speaking to Turin daily La Stampa , however, Mr Toti, a former head of news at one of the media tycoon's TV channels, said: "Certainly, he is going to stand [in the European elections]. Berlusconi has always led Forza Italia at elections . . . If Mr Berlusconi is not allowed to run, I would see that as a serious attack on the rights of moderate Italians. Whoever stops him will be assuming a very heavy responsibility vis-a-vis millions of Italians . . ."

Commentators believe that Mr Berlusconi might appeal against any eventual exclusion from the ballot sheet, in the process painting himself in the role of eternal “victim” of a politically motivated, leftist judiciary. Legal experts, however, claim that such are the watertight terms of the Severino law, that any eventual appeal against his removal from the ballot sheet seems guaranteed to fail.

While Forza Italia spokesperson Deborah Bergamini argued yesterday that it was “a question of democracy” that Mr Berlusconi be allowed to contest the elections, senior Democratic Party figure Gianni Pittella rebutted ironically that Forza Italia “continues to have problems accepting and respecting court decisions”.

The polemics about Mr Berlusconi’s election intentions come on the day after a potentially embarrassing incident that may yet prompt negative fallout for the 77-year-old. On Thursday night, Federica Gagliardi, a woman who was part of Mr Berlusconi’s official government delegation at the Toronto G8 summit in 2010, was arrested at Rome airport when 24 kilos of cocaine were found in her hand luggage.