Vote on Berlusconi ejection set for November 27
(ANSA) – Rome, November 5 – A vote on the floor of the Senate on whether to strip ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi of his parliamentary seat after a tax-fraud conviction will take place November 27, party whips decided Tuesday.
The meeting of caucus leaders rejected a proposal from the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement to vote immediately and one from the leftist SEL party to vote next week.
There is a majority in the Senate in favour of ejecting the centre-right leader, enforcing a 2012 anti-corruption law aimed at cleaning up politics after a wave of scandals.
Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party (PdL) claims the law is being applied retroactively, and therefore against the Italian Constitution, in Berlusconi’s case but its government partner, the Democratic Party (PD), rejects this argument.
The row came close to toppling PD Premier Enrico Letta on October 2 but a PdL mutiny led by Deputy Premier Angelino Alfano forced Berlusconi into an embarrassing last-minute U-turn.
Media tycoon Berlusconi was sentenced to four years for fraud on film rights at his Mediaset empire but three years were lopped off because of an amnesty.
He is set to serve the remaining year doing community service but has vowed to stay at the helm of the centre right, leading a resuscitated version of his first party, Forza Italia.
PdL hawks loyal to Berlusconi say the government will fall if he is voted out but doves led by Alfano want the government to carry on enacting key reforms, including a new electoral law, and trying to lift Italy out of its longest recession in 20 years.