AS WAS only to be expected, Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was in a fighting mood yesterday, one day after the Italian constitutional court annulled a law granting him immunity from prosecution while in office.
The "Consulta" ruled that the legislation, the so-called Lodo Alfano, one of the first measures introduced by Mr Berlusconi after his electoral victory in April 2008, was de facto unconstitutional.
The court's motivazionior detailed reasoning as to just how it arrived at its decision will not be available for some weeks.
Legal experts, however, believe that the court has argued that the Lodo Alfanoviolates the fundamental democratic principle whereby all citizens are equal in the eyes of the law.
Seemingly undeterred by this latest setback, Mr Berlusconi yesterday went on the attack, accusing both the constitutional court and state president Giorgio Napolitano of being leftist sympathisers.
“We have a head of State who is on the left and we have a constitutional court with 11 [out of 15] leftist judges and that’s certainly no guarantee of impartiality. Rather, as we have seen on this occasion, that is a guarantee of a political decision . . .
“As for the president, he was elected by a leftist majority that no longer exists whilst his whole past is linked to the left.”
Mr Berlusconi once again refused to consider the possibility of resignation, adding on state radio yesterday morning: “The government intends to keep on governing, in a serene manner and if possible with even more determination than before because we believe that we are indispensable for democracy in this country . . .
“It’s a good job that we still have Silvio because if it wasn’t for him, the entire country would be in the hands of the left.”
In reference to the possibility that he might now have to face bribery and corruption charges in two separate trials, the prime minister was typically defiant, saying: “These are two farcical and absurd cases. I will go into court and make my accusers look ridiculous and I will show them and Italians just what stuff I am made of.”
In one of the two cases, Mr Berlusconi’s Mediaset company stands accused of corruption relative to the purchase of TV rights.
In the other, arguably much more serious case, Mr Berlusconi is accused of having paid British lawyer David Mills a $600,000 bribe to induce him to offer false testimony in cases involving his Fininvest Group in the 1990s.
At the time, Mr Mills, estranged husband of British Olympics minister Tessa Jowell, was the London-based lawyer for Fininvest.
Legal experts have argued this week, however, that even if both cases are reopened against Mr Berlusconi, the statute of limitations is likely to kick in before the courts arrive at a judgment.