Saturday, November 8, 2011. Many people are waiting for Silvio Berlusconi's resignation, in the streets, on the Internet, whilst still fearing a last minute trick from the Cavaliere.
Berlusconi's farewell
Silvio Berlusconi's end has been anticipated since, at least, the 14th of December 2010. Many were convinced that on that day the Italian prime minister would lose the majority in the Parliament, after Gianfranco Fini's Future and Freedom split, and bring to an end his government.
But the Cavaliere's end did not come. He managed to find unexpected allies, and his government carried on, even though it was barely able to pass the deep reforms Italy needed – and needs – in order to get rid of his enormous debt of almost €1.9trn and start to grow again, after a decade of stagnation.
Scilipoti's protest
The game lasted almost 12 months, but now seems to be definitely over, as last Tuesday some “traitors” (as the Italian Silvio called them) left the sinking boat, paving the way for the “coup d'etat” (as Scilipoti, Berlusconi's ally, put it) of Gianfranco Fini, supported by the banks lobby.
Today the Italian Parliament has approved the financial stability law, and Silvio Berlusconi – a few days ago – stated that will be the final act of the current government, and he will resign.
So today it could be – and should be – the day, as the Italian population is preparing to celebrate. On Twitter and Facebook the tension increases.
Sunday, November 8, 2011. A vote on the previous year's public finances review reveals Mr Berlusconi's majority may have gone. For good.
Silvio Berlusconi looking at vote results
In the recent past, any vote in the Chamber of Deputies have became a challenge to the prime minister majority, but Silvio Berlusconi has always managed to sort things out, mainly through late horse-trading sessions, many believe.
Beside this, his closest ally – Northern League's Umberto Bossi – has always kept defending his boss.
Berlusconi tried anything to keep Italian's faith, even promising to change his party's name, to a more intriguing one.
Nothing doing.
And when Umberto Bossi was asked by the journalists whether Berlusconi should step down, he answered: maybe not, just step aside.
Vote in the Italian Parliament
Meanwhile the horse-trading somehow got a reverse stream in the past days, as more and more people realised that without Berlusconi's resignation there was no way out of the current lockout. Pressure ratcheted up on him to resign. And few of his allies decided to flee the sinking boat.
Well, today things went differenty: instead of a draw, Berlusconi's government reached a win in the vote, but he obtained only 308 votes where the absolute majority is of 316 votes.
There are 8 traitors, and Berlusconi has reviewed the list of voters to reveal (and possibly hunt down) them, but this time no horse-trading seem to work and save his government.
Sunday, October 23, 2011. After meeting Silvio Berlusconi on Italy's commitments, Germany's Merkel and France's Sarkozy are asked about how reassuring was the threesome.
Are they talking about him?
On October 15 Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi won a confidence vote by a very narrow majority.
On October 23, eight days later, he had to inspire some confidence in the Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, who summoned him (needing a true commitment from Italy, in order to try and solve the euro zone crisis), just before a European Council summit in Brussels.
Merkel, Sarkozy and Berlusconi
«I was convincing», declared afterwards Silvio Berlusconi «I have never failed to make the grade», showing how he considered the whole thing as just getting a reproach from the headmaster.
During the following press conference, a French-speaking journalist asked the duo about their level of trust in the Italian politician by putting a question on how much they have been reassured by him.
«How to put it?» answered Nicolas Sarkozy, «We do have confidence in the sense of responsibility of Italy's political, financial and economic authorities as a whole.» whilst Mrs Merkel underscores that «It was a meeting among friends.». They just couldn't help giggling, revealing how funny they found Silvio Berlusconi.
But the video (in French) about the funny scene is revealing more than the mere words.
