Berlusconi says Forza Italia won’t be extremist

(see related) (ANSA) – Rome, November 15 – Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi on Friday said his revamped center-right party will not be “extremist” or “oligarchical”, rebutting claims from Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano. “I’m not going to change, I won’t change Forza Italia,” he said in a statement, alluding to the name under which he is re-branding his People of Freedom (PdL) party, a throwback to the center-right party’s original title. “If it were to become something else, something small and petty, prey of an oligarchy, or if it risked becoming extremist, I, the founder, would be the one who no longer recognizes it,” he said. Alfano, until recently touted as Berlusconi’s heir apparent, has said there was a risk of Forza Italia becoming extremist. Recently stripped of his role as secretary in the PdL, Alfano is the leader of pro-government doves within the party who have clashed with Berlusconi and his loyalists over whether to bring down Premier Enrico Letta’s grand-coalition government. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED