Berlusconi cross: Napolitano left him out of the life Senator's list

Thursday, 29 August 2013. Becoming a life Senator could have meant to Silvio Berlusconi a way out from legal woes, but Giorgio Napolitano did not include the former prime minister in the list of celebrities. Too bad.

An angry Berlusconi (Photograph: Reuters/Alessandro Bianchi)

Of course Berlusconi's People of Freedom party put all the pressure they could to get the former prime minister in the list of newly appointed life Senators, but in the end they had to cope with the fact that their leader will not be granted the honour, perhaps because he is not a former head of state nor a distinguished personality in the arts and sciences (nope, bunga-bunga parties do not count as achievement in arts).

Berlusconi did not take it well (actually he is cross!), since it could have meant cutting the Gordian knot in a situation where he doesn't seem to find a way out: in few days the parliament will be voting on his expulsion from the Senate, following his conviction for tax fraud, and he is more and more frightened by the prospect (nope, the European Court of Human Rights might not grant his salvation).

Daniela "The Pythoness" Santanchè doesn't agree with Napolitano

Berlusconi's allies in government, the Democratic Party seem willing to get rid of him, even if the media tycoon keeps threatening to tear down the cabinet in the event and his associates declared “unthinkable” the ousting of the 76-year old entrepreneur.

Berlusconi's new alliance with Radical Marco Pannella might not bring the expected fruits (or they might not arrive in time: it'll take a while for the referendums over the judiciary to succeed, if ever).

About the nominees - architect Renzo Piano, former director of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Claudio Abbado, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Carlo Rubbia and stem cell researcher, Elena Cattaneo – PdL's Daniela Santanchè, nicknamed pythoness, said that she does not think “they measure up to Berlusconi”. Several PdL's member said it's just another manoeuvre of the leftists to reach a sneaky majority in the parliament.

Keep calm, Silvio, and carry on trying!