IT WAS a day of mixed fortunes yesterday for the centre-right government of Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, which lost one key vote but won another. Already under intense pressure because of the premier’s involvement in the “Rubygate” sex scandal, the government’s day began badly when a parliamentary committee rejected a fiscal federalism measure, keenly promoted by government ally the Northern League.
This vote immediately prompted the spectre of a government collapse, given that for days now senior figures in the Northern League, including leader Umberto Bossi, had been saying that if the vote did not go through, there would be no option but to call an early general election.
However, following a quickly convened meeting of the governing coalition, senior figures in Mr Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party (PDL) played down the possibility of a crisis, saying they would now try to present the federalist measure in the form of a government decree.
Having survived one crisis, the government then rallied to pull off a significant success in the Lower House when by a vote of 315 to 298 it rejected a request from the Rubygate investigators to search the offices of Mr Berlusconi’s Milan bursar, Giuseppe Spinelli. He is believed to be the paymaster of the women who attended parties at the prime minister’s private residence in Arcore, near Milan.
In essence, the Lower House backed the opinion of parliament’s PDL majority immunity committee which had argued that Milan investigators have neither judicial nor territorial competence in relation to the Rubygate case in which Berlusconi is charged with “exploitation of underage prostitution” and “abuse of office”. Parliament repeated the PDL view that Mr Berlusconi should be judged by a “tribunal of ministers”.
Despite yesterday’s vote, the Milan magistrates are expected next week to request that Mr Berlusconi be summoned in a fast-track trial to answer the charges relative to the alleged orgies in his residences. In a separate Rubygate development, cabinet under secretary Gianni Letta gave evidence to the parliament’s security committee in which he claimed there was no question of the prime minister being blackmailed.
Finally, the government’s mixed day closed with a decision from the constitutional court, the Consulta, which approved the holding of a referendum into the so-called Lodo Alfano, a controversial legislation that had granted Mr Berlusconi immunity from prosecution while in office.