Renzi forced to backtrack on legislation favouring Berlusconi

The coalition Italian government of Matteo Renzi was forced into an embarrassing retreat yesterday after it emerged that one article in recently proposed legislation would almost certainly annul former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s 2012 conviction for tax fraud.

Not for the first time, the government's move prompted concern about the exact nature of a secret pact between Mr Renzi and Mr Berlusconi, a pact drawn up last January just days before Mr Renzi took office in a palace coup and just days after he had won control of the centre-left Democratic Party. With the exception of leftist daily, Il Fatto Quotidiano, few observers had noticed the explosive nature of the controversial tax measure which had been presented to cabinet on Christmas Eve.

The measure in question would exempt those convicted of tax crimes from punishment if the amount defrauded was less than 3 per cent of their total taxable income. The amount for which Berlusconi was convicted would seem to be well below that bar.

Were this measure to become law, Mr Berlusconi could apply for a retro-active quashing of his August 1st, 2013 final conviction in which he received a four year sentence (reduced to one year of community service once a week in an old people's home) for tax evasion by his Mediaset company. That conviction also barred Mr Berlusconi from parliament for six years, a point underlined when the media tycoon was formally expelled from the Senate in November 2013.

In essence, were this measure to become law, then 78-year-old Mr Berlusconi would be free to return to the forefront of the Italian political stage. Commentators claim that Mr Renzi was willing to grant Mr Berlusconi this favour right now because he desperately needs the support of the Berlusconi-led Forza Italia party during a turbulent period when parliament will consider both new electoral legislation and elect a new state President. Current President, 89-year-old Giorgio Napolitano, confirmed on New Year's Eve that he will resign office shortly.

Presidential pardon

Other commentators argue that the proposed measure is merely the result of last January’s private pact (Patto del Nazareno), pointing out that Mr Berlusconi still believes he is “owed” a presidential pardon, given his 20 year long service to Italian public life. Commenting on the issue,

Luigi Di Maio

, deputy speaker of the Lower House and a member of the M5S protest party, said yesterday:

“This is a Christmas present for Berlusconi, one of the pay-offs from the Nazareno pact”.

For some time this week, there was confusion about this measure with the Ministry of the Economy claiming that it had not inserted the controversial, five line Article 19. In the end, Mr. Renzi solved the mystery by acknowledging that he himself had in cluded it in the overall tax package, commenting:

“I had the measure inserted but only after I had heard the advice of lawyers and magistrates...If it really does this (acquit Berlusconi) then we will drop it...”.