MEDIA TYCOON Silvio Berlusconi, winner of last weekend's Italian general election, made a triumphant descent on Rome last night, promising to form a new government within a week and also extending olive branches to his defeated centreleft opponents, saying he is ready to involve them in the drawing up of constitutional and institutional reforms. PADDY AGNEW reports from Rome
When the dust finally settled yesterday on the weekend's vote, Mr Berlusconi, along with electoral ally the Northern League, had claimed an impressive 46.8 per cent of the vote, as opposed to the 37.6 per cent won by his opponents. This gives Mr Berlusconi a cast-iron majority in the lower house and a workable majority in the senate where, however, his government will be dependent on the votes of the Northern League.
Asked on national radio yesterday morning if he was feeling tired at the end of an exhausting campaign, an ebullient Mr Berlusconi told listeners: "I'm not tired at all. I went to bed at half-three last night but I have been at my desk since a quarter past seven this morning - I'm bursting with energy. I am a lucky man since I don't know what it is to be tired."
Throughout the campaign, Mr Berlusconi warned that he would be forced to enact unpopular measures as he settled down to the difficult task of reviving Italy's sluggish economy (0.3 per cent predicted growth for 2008).
Yesterday he repeated that concept, adding, however, that he was amuch more experienced politician than the one who took office in 2001 since he now knows the "machine of the state" intimately.
He suggested that he would like to implement institutional reforms such as increasing the prime minister's powers, giving legislative powers to just one house of parliament and halving the number of parliamentarians.
He expressed the hope that the centre-left would contribute to this reform process.
On a more typically populist note, the prime minister-elect also outlined his two most urgent priorities - namely the garbage crisis in Naples and the fate of state carrier Alitalia.
Not only will he hold his first cabinet meeting in Naples but his cabinet willremain based there until such time as the crisis is resolved. As for Alitalia, Mr Berlusconi said he was already at work, organising an Italian consortium to take over the ailing carrier.
The outgoing Prodi government had agreed to sell Alitalia, currently estimated to be losing more than €1 million per day to Air France-KLM.
That deal, however, fell through days after Mr Berlusconi said that he would not support such a sale if elected.
In his last period in office, from 2001 to 2006, Mr Berlusconi was often criticised for devoting too much time to his own judicial problems.
Perhaps with this criticism in mind, he also promised yesterday to honour four other campaign promises - namely the abolition of rates tax on family homes; the introduction of a €1,000 premium for new babies; an increase to minimum pensions; the removal of tax on overtime earnings.