The Fall Of Berlusconi: Northern League Says Berlusconi Government Doomed

GOZZOLI, Benozzo
Fall of Simon Magus
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From Reuters India:

UPDATE 2-Northern League says Berlusconi government doomed
Sat Apr 24, 2010 2:17am IST

* Bossi predicts centre-right coalition will collapse

* Threats follows public clash between Berlusconi and Fini

* Internal bickering raises spectre of early election

(Adds new Bossi comments paragraphs 4-5)

By Silvia Aloisi

ROME, April 23 (Reuters) - The head of Italy's Northern League, a key ally of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, on Friday predicted the government would fall and the ruling coalition collapse as its leaders publicly attack each other.

Umberto Bossi, whose anti-immigrant party made strong gains in a March regional ballot and has raised its profile in the coalition, backed Berlusconi in his battle with right-wing leader Gianfranco Fini, but said the centre-right alliance was now doomed.

In an interview in the League's party newspaper, Bossi predicted "a vertical collapse of the government and probably the end of the alliance between (Berlusconi's) PDL and the Northern League", although he gave no timeframe.

In an another interview late on Friday, Bossi appeared to backtrack, saying he thought the government would carry on despite the row between Berlusconi and Fini. But he warned about the prospect of a snap election if the executive could not deliver on its pledge to push through reforms.

"Certainly, rather than staying here and doing nothing," Bossi told Sky Italia television when asked about early elections.

The coalition's descent into chaos comes as the euro zone's third-largest economy struggles to recover from its worst post-war recession.

In a dramatic public shouting match at a PDL congress on Thursday, Fini accused Berlusconi of stifling internal debate and giving too much power to the League, while the 73-year-old prime minister accused his younger rival of disloyalty. [ID:nLDE63L2EH]

Bossi said Fini, a co-founder of Berlusconi's People of Freedom party (PDL) whose powerbase is in the south, was "envious and rancorous over (the League's) repeated successes ... and has done nothing but try to erode what we have created".

ELECTIONS?

The unprecedented clash left the centre-right government in disarray even before Bossi's comments, as a defection by Fini could paralyse the executive and even deprive Berlusconi of his comfortable majority in both houses of parliament.

Bossi, who is renowned for his colourful language, said in the newspaper interview it was now clear the ruling coalition could not produce the promised reform to devolve power to the regions that the League demands.

"A new road awaits us, we will be alone without Berlusconi," said the League chief, who sank Berlusconi's first government in 1994.

Analysts said there may be more to Bossi's threats than his usual bellicose rhetoric.

The Northern League has gone from strength to strength since Berlusconi returned to power in 2008, and may prefer the option of early polls rather than be stuck in a weak government unable to carry out the reforms it has promised its voters.

"Bossi's position has strengthened. He can now blame Berlusconi for not getting the PDL house in order and pull the plug on the government without making it look as if it's his own fault," said James Walston, political science professor at the American University of Rome.

Berlusconi held a meeting with Bossi and PDL loyalists on Friday, but did not answer reporters' questions on the political situation.

Most commentators in Italian newspapers said the virulence of Thursday's clash between Fini and the prime minister meant they were unlikely to patch up.

"It's all-out war," was the banner headline in left-leaning La Repubblica daily.

"The most logical forecast is that, by living separately under the same roof, they won't go very far, and soon enough they will be counting their respective supporters in an early election," said an editorial in La Stampa. (For a Q+A on the coalition crisis, please click on [ID:nLDE63M10M]) (Additional reporting by Gavin Jones and Ilaria Polleschi; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Lega Nord’s Umberto Bossi