Prodi Government Collapses As Berlusconi Eyes Return

Jan 25, 08:37 AM

Romano Prodi's government collapsed last night, defeated in a Senate vote by 161 votes to 157 at the end of a chaotic debate triggered by the defection of a coalition ally. As the Senate voted on the crucial vote of confidence, the leader of the Opposition Silvio Berlusconi waited in the wings, a fourth term as prime minister all but assured.

Italy's richest man, the media mogul who has weathered numerous accusations of corruption, heads Italy's biggest party, Forza Italia, with 28 per cent support. And as the ruling centre-left coalition has steadily torn itself to pieces, culminating this week in the departure of a small but vital Christian Democrat party, Udeur, the unlikely group of rightist forces that ruled Italy for five years under Mr Berlusconi quietly mended bridges and prepared for power.

Romano Prodi was quietly effective in salvaging Italy from the damage done by Mr Berlusconi, restoring a measure of fiscal sanity, and making a start on important reforms. But with the Italian economy still stagnant and his coalition mired in endless bickering, the mumbling economics professor and former president of the European Commission steadily lost popularity.

But many Italians, even on the right, have little relish for Mr Berlusconi's return. Almost his last act before the general election of 2006 was to hobble his centre-left rival by bequeathing him an electoral system almost guaranteed to produce political stalemate, giving disproportionate influence to Italy's innumerable small parties.

Without a new electoral system, a new government would face the same problem. And Italy's collective crisis of confidence, which has led to a prolonged bout of popular disillusionment with the institutions of the state, will grind on.

Mr Prodi had staked his political career on persuading senators to side with him in a crucial vote of confidence. By flouncing out of his centre-left coalition this week, the Udeur party - total three senators - robbed him of the tiny majority that had kept him barely afloat for the 18 months he has been in power.

A Prodi win would have mean the attritional war within his coalition continued unabated, and every subsequent Senate vote would be another battle to survive..

But now he has been defeated, the uncertainty become acute. His government is finished, but what happens next must be decided by the head of state, President Giorgio Napolitano, in consultation with the main political leaders. Despite the urgency of the crisis it will take time. From having a weak, lacklustre and ineffective government, Italy will have no government at all.

Opening the Senate debate yesterday, Mr Prodi referred to this as he urged waverers to back him. "The country needs more than ever to be governed," he told senators. "A power vacuum is a luxury Italy cannot allow itself. Italy risks finding itself in a negative economic cycle which we will face with still imperfect economic structures."

Mayhem broke out during the debate when one Udeur senator, Nuccio Cusumano, announced that he would defy the party whip and vote for Mr Prodi. The leader of the party in the house, Tommaso Barbato, burst into the chamber and hurled a string of insults at the senator. Another colleague spat in his face, then Mr Cusumano fainted and was carried out on a stretcher. It was a measure of the tensions in a senate whose members know that, if Mr Prodi loses, they will lose their pension rights , which clock in after only two years.

One possible outcome of a Prodi defeat is a "technical government" appointed by the President to force through electoral reform, hopefully ensuring stronger governments. But Professor James Walston, of the American University in Rome, said Mr Napolitano would have to call for immediate elections under the existing system, elections Mr Berlusconi and his House of Liberties coalition are almost sure to win, but inheriting the structural weaknesses that beset Mr Prodi. "It will be a disaster for Italy's political system," he said. "The situation is really desperate."

Originally published by By Peter Popham in Rome.

(c) 2008 Independent, The; London (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved. Prodi Government Collapses As Berlusconi Eyes Return
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