Fini minaccia la leadership di Berlusconi

Dopo mesi di manovre sotterranee, il principale rivale politico di Silvio Berlusconi è uscito allo scoperto. Il presidente della camera dei deputati Gianfranco Fini ha infatti lanciato il movimento Generazione Italia. L’articolo del Times.(*)

“Alcuni collaboratori di Fini, che è tra i fondatori del Popolo della libertà, hanno spiegato che il movimento verrà lanciato prima online, il 1 aprile, e successivamente in un convegno a Perugia, e hanno cercato di spiegare che l’obiettivo di Generazione Italia è rafforzare il Pdl”.

Questa mossa potrebbe mettere Fini, che negli ultimi tempi ha assunto posizioni di sempre maggior contrasto nei confronti di Berlusconi, nelle condizioni di correre per la guida della destra nei prossimi tempi. Soprattutto viste le evidenti difficoltà del presidente del consiglio.

Fino a poche settimane fa la leadership di Berlusconi sembrava intoccabile. Poi gli scandali politici, il caos delle liste elettorali e la perdita di consenso tra gli elettori di centrodestra a causa della crisi economica hanno contribuito a ribaltare questa situazione. L’ultima spina nel fianco per il premier è arrivata da Trani, in Puglia, dove alcuni magistrati hanno messo sotto inchiesta Berlusconi per concussione e minacce nei confronti di confronti di funzionari pubblici.

(*)
Gianfranco Fini launches Generation Italy in move against weakened Berlusconi
Richard Owen, Rome


After months of shadow boxing the man seen as the most likely successor to Silvio Berlusconi moved yesterday towards an outright challenge to the Italian Prime Minister.

Gianfranco Fini, 58, the Speaker of the Lower House and co-founder of the ruling People of Liberty (PdL) party, began a new political movement, Generation Italy. Mr Fini has distanced himself from Mr Berlusconi, 73, whose popularity ratings have dropped to their lowest level since he was re-elected a year and a half ago.

Aides to Mr Fini said that the new movement would be launched online on April 1 and then at a convention in Perugia in May. Italo Bocchino, one of the organisers of Generation Italy, said that it was not a new party but was intended to shake up and enrich the PdL.

However, the move is seen as providing Mr Fini, who has adopted increasingly liberal positions on issues such as immigration, with a potential vehicle for a leadership bid.
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The Prime Minister, who once appeared unassailable, is increasingly beset not only by corruption scandals but also by disillusionment among centre-right voters over the economy as well as over the PdL’s incompetence in failing to register its candidates in Lazio in time for crucial regional elections at the end of this month.

“Fini’s new party is born”, said Il Giornale, part of Mr Berlusconi’s media empire. Mr Fini has made no secret of his plan to forge a new “European-style” centre Right in Italy to replace the present alliance based on Mr Berlusconi’s personality and media power, telling supporters that under Mr Berlusconi the PdL “is not working any more”.

“Generation Italy” is inspired by “Generation France”, set up by Jean François Copé, Mayor of Meaux and a leader of President Sarkozy’s ruling Union for a Popular Movement. Mr Fini began moves toward his own organisation last year by setting up a think-tank called “Farefuturo”.

“Berlusconi is in decline”, said Corriere della Sera, adding: “We are approaching the end of the Berlusconi era.” It said that the PdL was a “’plastic party, and the plastic is melting”. Sofia Ventura, lecturer in politics at Bologna University and co-founder of Farefuturo, said that although Mr Berlusconi remained popular, “he has lost his charisma”.

She said that the Forza Italia-AN merger had never worked because of “internal tensions”. Raffaele Lombardo, the centre-right president of the Sicilian region, said that the PdL was “imploding”.

Mr Berlusconi described as grotesque court rulings that invalidated his party’s candidate list in Lazio. The deadline for the list was missed because a PdL official left to get a sandwich.

Mr Berlusconi, who initially blamed “amateurs and idiots” in his own party, later mounted a counter-attack, claiming that the PdL list had been “sabotaged” by the Left. He then changed the election rules by issuing an emergency decree stating that it was enough for party officials to be present in the building at the deadline for the presentation of candidates even if the lists were not actually submitted. To his fury, the courts have ignored the decree.

Mr Berlusconi, who owns Italy’s three main commercial TV channels, is also under pressure over his media power. Magistrates in Apulia have placed him under investigation for abuse of office after intercepting phone calls during an unrelated inquiry in which the Prime Minister was heard giving instructions to news editors of RAI, the public broadcaster.

He was also heard ordering RAI executives to take chat shows critical of him off the air, declaring “enough of these enemy journalists, I no longer want to see them on TV”. He has denied committing any offence, and the Ministry of Justice has sent inspectors to Apulia to investigate the magistrates involved.

An IPR poll last week showed support for Mr Berlusconi falling to 44 per cent compared with 46 per cent in February and 62 per cent in 2008. An ISPO poll said that 17 per cent of voters had decided either to change their vote or not to vote at all as a result of the PdL pre-election shambles.

At the weekend 200,000 people attended a centre-left rally in Rome accusing Mr Berlusconi of subverting democracy to stay in power.

Pier Luigi Bersani, head of the opposition Democratic Party, said that the Left had rediscovered its unity and morale after its 2008 defeat, telling the crowd: “A different Italy is possible.”

Last Friday a court overturned a ban on political talk shows on TV and radio in the run-up to the regional elections, accepting an appeal by Sky Italia, a unit of News Corporation, parent company of The Times, and Telecom Italia Media. The Open Society Justice Initiative, a pro-democracy institute founded by the financier George Soros, complained to the European Court of Human Rights that Mr Berlusconi’s grip on Italian TV was “undemocratic”.

17 March 2010