RIMINI: Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta yesterday warned that the collapse of his government would undermine economic recovery and anger voters after local media reported centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi was poised to pull the plug on the executive.
Italian newspapers said Berlusconi, who was convicted of tax fraud earlier this month, would bring down the government in October if he is expelled from the Senate — a measure the court ruling foresees but which requires a parliamentary vote to enact.
Berlusconi’s People of Liberty (PDL) party and Letta’s Democratic Party (PD) joined forces in an awkward right-left coalition in April to break a stalemate that followed February’s inconclusive national election.
“No one should block the hopeful path we have started down,” Letta said in his first major speech since the Berlusconi verdict. “An exit from this crisis is within reach.”
“Italians will punish anyone who puts their personal interests ahead of the common good, which is getting out of this crisis,” he said at a meeting of Communion and Liberation, an influential Catholic group.
Reuters
