Letta sees admin strengthened by centre-right split

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Letta sees admin strengthened by centre-right split

By Paul Virgo (ANSA.IT) 17:13, November 20, 2013

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Rome, November 18 - Premier Enrico Letta said Monday that his coalition government is more stable after the centre right split at the weekend between a new group that continues to support it and Silvio Berlusconi's revamped Forza Italia (FI), which looks set to move to the opposition. "I'm sure that what happened in the centre right will help Italy's stability," Letta said at a conference organised by the Financial Times. Pro-government doves led by Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano on Saturday refused to leave Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PdL) party to join Forza Italia.

The split came after Berlusconi made it clear that the new group will withdraw its support from the executive if the three-time premier is stripped of his Senate seat after the supreme court upheld a tax-fraud conviction against him.

Berlusconi is furious that Letta's centre-left Democratic Party (PD) is backing a move to have him ejected from parliament, saying it wants to commit "political homicide", with a vote in the Upper House set to take place next week.

Letta's government should be able to stay afloat without FI's support in parliament, thanks to around 30 centre-right Senators and over 20 members of the Lower House who are signing up for Alfano's group, the New Centre Right (NCD).

The NCD officially came to life on Monday.

Alfano led a PdL rebellion last month that forced Berlusconi to make an embarrassing U-turn and back down on a bid to sink the left-right government, which was cobbled together in April to end a long deadlock after February's inconclusive general election, and provoke a snap vote. The administration had had problems on focusing on hauling Italy out of its longest recession in over two decades, amid frequent furores and threats over Berlusconi's legal problems and policy differences between the PdL and PD.

"We started our work with great turbulence," said Letta.

"Now let's hope that we can work in a more stable, clearer situation.

"Now the situation is clear and people can take their responsibilities. I consider what happened to be the practical application of the decision taken on October 2," he added, referring to the date of crunch confidence vote that his government won after Berlusconi's U-turn. Letta is likely to get a taste of how strong his new majority is soon, with the government's 2014 budget law, which has been blasted for not doing enough to boost growth, facing votes in parliament this month. Alfano has been called a traitor by several Berlusconi loyalists.

But minister and the ex-premier have both made an effort to play down any talk of bitterness and said they saw each other as potential allies in future elections.

Alfano stressed that the NCD would vote against the move for Berlusconi to be ejected from parliament. He agrees with Berlusconi's assertion that he is the victim of a campaign of persecution by left-wing judges who are trying to wipe him off the political scene.

The tax-fraud verdict was the three-time premier's first definitive conviction after two decades of legal battles.

The 77-year-old media magnate is appealing against convictions for paying for sex with an underage prostitute and for involvement in the illegal publication of a wiretap and has been indicted for allegedly bribing a Senator to change political sides.

But Alfano and his supporters do not think the government should be hit by Berlusconi's legal problems, as this would generate instability just as Italy looks close to emerging from a recession that has caused unemployment to rise to record levels of over 12%, and over 40% among young people.