Tag: Berlusconi

In an interview with the political daily Il Foglio, Silvio Berlusconi urged Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta to seek a "test of strength" with Germany, saying budget austerity imposed by Berlin was killing Italian companies and putting the euro zone at risk.

Pier Luigi Bersani, leader of Italy’s centre-left bloc, is scheduled to meet Silvio Berlusconi’s deputies today (26 March) in an effort to form a coalition government to end a month-long impasse.

Beppe Grillo, leader of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, ruled out a coalition yesterday (27 February) with the Italian centre-left, led by Pier Luigi Bersani. The move comes days after Bersani rejected Silvio Berlusconi’s plea to form a grand coalition, leaving Italy with a political impasse.

Italy's stunned political parties searched for a way forward yesterday (26 February) after an inconclusive election gave none of them a clear parliamentary majority. Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right camp indicated it was prepared to govern in coalition with Pier Luigi Bersani’s centre-left.

Italians finish voting today (25 February) in one of the most closely watched and unpredictable elections in years - and one with high stakes for the eurozone.

Italians head to the polls on 24-25 February to replace a technocratic government charged with halting the country’s economic and fiscal decline. But after wearying months of austerity and instability, voters appeared to have no clear favourite among familiar faces as well as wildcard candidates. EurActiv Italia reports.

Silvio Berlusconi withdrew as candidate for Italy's prime ministerial post on Monday (7 January) as the price of a pact with the devolutionist Northern League, marking the latest twist in the election campaign in the eurozone's third biggest economy.

The Italian political saga took another turn after both outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti and former premier Silvio Berlusconi appeared at the European People’s Party meeting on the margins of the EU summit today (13 December) in Brussels.

Italy should consider leaving the euro unless Germany agrees to the European Central Bank acting as a guarantor for sovereign debt and printing money to reflate the economy, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said yesterday (20 June).

The local elections in Italy have not boosted the opposition as Prime minister Monti's leading supporters were among the relative winners. The elections also showed that the centre-right coalition of former prime minister Berlusconi has been reduced to a marginal role, says Maria-Elena Guiterrez.

With Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi set to resign and as coalition talks in Greece drag into a third day, the EU fears that a political vacuum in those two countries might make the eurozone sovereign debt crisis even worse.

One of Italy's most prominent businessmen, often seen as the potential leader of a transitional government of national unity, called on Monday (31 October) for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to step down immediately to stem the growing debt crisis.

Italy’s EU colleagues expressed satisfaction with the contents of a letter brought to the summit yesterday (26 October) by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi setting out Rome’s intention to rein in public expenditure and counter contagion from Greece’s sovereign debt crisis. EU SUMMIT LIVE!

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was defiant ahead of tomorrow's (26 October) crunch EU summit that is expected to put in place bold measures to protect the euro from highly indebted countries such as Italy.

The European Union has long been hailed as one of the areas of the world with the greatest press freedom. However, NGOs and international organisations warn that this may be under threat as the media becomes increasingly concentrated in ever fewer hands and some governments engage in politically-motivated lawsuits and outright censorship.

Rome pledged on Tuesday (6 September) to hike value added tax and insert a balanced budget amendment into its constitution to limit debt, drawing praise from the European Commission while thousands marched in protest against austerity measures.

Despite the Italian finance minister's reassurances that a crackdown on tax evasion will provide enough revenue to replace the levy on high earners dropped from Rome's austerity package, employers' group Confindustria has labelled the government's plan "weak and inadequate" and expressed concern about how Italy's economic problems are being handled.

The European Court of Justice confirmed yesterday (28 July) that the Italian switchover from analogue to digital TV has been illegally subsidised, favouring the channels of Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. A mammoth reimbursement is now due by his Mediaset media empire.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi suffered a humiliating defeat yesterday (13 June) as Italians turned out in large numbers to vote in referenda which he had encouraged them to boycott.

Former Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema calls on Nicolas Sakozy and Silvio Berlusconi to stop stoking the flames of anti-immigrant sentiment and urges Europe to restore solidarity with emigrant countries facing difficult economic and political circumstances.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday (26 April) asked Brussels to make changes to the treaty establishing the Schengen border-free area. The proposed changes strengthen the hand of member countries and undermine the role of the European Commission.

Paris and Rome are playing "ping-pong" with thousands of immigrants who travel by boat from the North African coast to the Italian island of Lampedusa, after which most of them try to reach France, the press in the two countries reports.

Meeting in Helsinki late on Saturday (5 March), leaders from the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) derided the absence of two of the four centre-left Party of European Socialists (PES) prime ministers from an alternative summit held simultaneously in Athens.