Speaking on Canale 5, Berlusconi is clear: there is no possibility of further adjustments. "I truly believe that this manoeuvre, which has been studied for a long time and which will probably be approved with the vote of the Chamber by Wednesday, is the right manoeuvre, with more means because we have introduced VAT and have kept the balances unchanged". The interventions on the maneuver "were not afterthoughts, they were improvements", he points out.
As for the criticisms of the chapter 'costs of politics', Berlusconi replies that there are cuts: ”The parliamentarians have been asked for a solidarity surcharge which is quadruple compared to other taxpayers. We have launched the suppression of all the provinces, the halving of the number of parliamentarians with a bill that will become law before the end of the legislature".
Tomorrow Berslusconi will be in Strasbourg to meet José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, and Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council. There could also be a meeting with the Polish Jerzy Buzek, president of the European Parliament, on the calendar.
"Thanks to the behavior of our opposition and its newspapers - says the prime minister - a lot of confusion has arisen around the manoeuvre". And it is for this reason that, rather than meeting the magistrates of the Naples prosecutor's office at Palazzo Chigi who are investigating the Tarantini case, Berlusconi has decided to give precedence to a tight tour of the heads of EU institutions.
“The European authorities and institutions were induced to think that the government wanted to take steps back from the approved maneuver and that, in short, we weren't seriously intending to make those sacrifices that will lead us to a balanced budget in 2013. a need to comfort our European interlocutors to clarify that it was quite the opposite".
And he explains: “When we realized that international speculation wanted to concentrate on our public debt securities, we made inquiries with the major banks in the world and the decision of American banks and funds to place securities on the market clearly came out public they had in their portfolio. We understood, therefore, that a dangerous situation would arise and we immediately contacted the ECB, which also has this task, and we asked it to intervene on the secondary market of securities to purchase them, should there be an important placing on the market of these titles".
Of one thing Berlusconi is certain: it is "a maneuver that would have crashed any government of the past". Meanwhile, work on the maneuver has restarted in the budget commission of the Chamber. The amendments to article 3 are to be voted on. The maneuver arrives in the Montecitorio hall this afternoon. The definitive yes is expected for Wednesday. In fact, tomorrow there should be a request for a vote of confidence with a vote the following day.
