“Fininvest will be saved. Even without a regulation within the manoeuvre”. These are Silvio Berlusconi's last words on the controversial “save-Fininvest” provision, first presented as a surprise maneuver and then, just as surprisingly, withdrawn the following day. The prime minister, speaking yesterday at the presentation of Domenico Scilipoti's book, specified that, although the provision has been withdrawn from the manoeuvre, the fact remains that it can be revived in the near future.
"There is nothing - he said - that prevents us from re-presenting that provision, we can think of including it during the parliamentary process". The prime minister observes again: "There will be a sentence on Fininvest soon, at which point it could no longer be considered an ad personam rule".
But Berlusconi also has problems with the Economy Minister, who distanced himself from the pro-Fininvest press conference yesterday, saying he knew nothing about it, and would ask Palazzo Chigi for clarification. "Minister Tremonti knew about that provision and considered it" sacrosanct ", he was sure that all the members of the Government would have agreed - and then he adds - Calderoli told me that he would have liked to help me write it better". Today Minister Calderoli denied that he declared that he had never seen or read the “save Fininvest” law.
The Brunetta-Tremonti diatribe is the background to the premier's battle. A video on Repubblica.it revealed a background of yesterday's press conference, where the maneuver was presented. The economy minister, during the speech of the minister of the civil service, indulged in comments that left the entire government establishment stunned. "He's a fool, this leads us to ruin" and "this is the typical suicidal intervention, he's just an idiot".
These are the words of Giulio Tremonti pinched from the video. An apology from the Economy Minister arrived today.
As if this climate of tension weren't enough, the foreign press is also hitting Berlusconi again, with an article in The Economist, on newsstands tomorrow, where the Italian government's budget package is described as "shameless".
