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Italian right backs Berlusconi’s bid for presidency

Italy's right-wing parties agreed Friday to support former premier and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi in his bid to become head of state, ten days before voting begins in parliament.   

Published: 15 January 2022 10:41 CET
Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi takes off his face mask as he prepares to address the media, as he leaves the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan on September 14, 2020 after he tested posititive for coronavirus and was hospitalized since September 3
Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi takes off his face mask as he prepares to address the media, as he leaves the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan on September 14, 2020 after he tested posititive for coronavirus and was hospitalized since September 3. (Photo by Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP)

The declaration came after Berlusconi, 85, met with Matteo Salvini of the anti-immigrant League party and Giorgia Meloni of the far-right Brothers of Italy.

A joint statement from their self-styled “centre-right” bloc said the office of Italy’s president represented national unity, emphasising the importance of “authority, balance and international prestige”.

“The leaders of the coalition have agreed that Silvio Berlusconi is the right person to hold the high office in this difficult situation, with the authority and experience that the country deserves and that Italians expect.”

READ ALSO: Who could be elected as Italy’s next president?

Berlusconi was prime minister for his centre-right Forza Italia party three times between 1994 and 2011.

His supporters had already made clear his ambition to succeed Sergio Mattarella, who steps down as Italy’s president after a seven-year term on February 3rd.

Just over 1,000 senators, MPs and regional representatives will begin choosing a new president in secret ballots beginning on January 24th, a process that is expected to take several days.

Prime Minister Mario Draghi has also intimated he wants the job, without making any formal declaration.

READ ALSO: What will happen if PM Mario Draghi becomes Italy’s next president?

Parachuted in by Mattarella a year ago to take over a fragile national unity government, Draghi, a former central banker who has no party of his own, risks being ousted in 2023 elections.

Italy’s president plays a largely ceremonial role but wields significant political influence, notably as arbiter in times of crisis.

Many commentators believe Berlusconi has no chance of succeeding in the presidential race. He has suffered a string of health issues in recent years and is still battling legal action over his “Bunga Bunga” sex parties.

However, he has made it known that if Draghi becomes president, Forza Italia will leave the government.

This runs the risk of collapsing the coalition, which includes all Italy’s main parties barring Meloni’s, and sparking early elections.

The new president must secure at least two-thirds of votes in the first three rounds, or an absolute majority thereafter.

Other potential candidates include former lower house speaker Pier Ferdinando Casini, EU commissioner and ex-premier Paolo Gentiloni, former Socialist premier Giuliano Amato, and Justice Minister Marta Cartabia – who if successful would be Italy’s first female head of state.

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POLITICS

Anger as Italy allows pro-life activists into abortion clinics

The Italian parliament has passed a measure by Giorgia Meloni's hard-right government allowing anti-abortion activists to enter consultation clinics, sparking outrage from opposition parties.

Published: 24 April 2024 13:05 CEST
Anger as Italy allows pro-life activists into abortion clinics

The measure adopted by the Senate late on Tuesday evening allows regional authorities to permit groups deemed to have “a qualified experience supporting motherhood” to have access to women considering abortions at clinics run by the state-funded healthcare system.

The government says the amendment merely fulfils the original aim of the country’s 1978 law legalising abortion, which says clinics can collaborate with such groups in efforts to support motherhood.

Pressure groups in several regions led by the right are already allowed access to consultation clinics, and the measure may see more join them.

Some regions, such as Marche, which is led by Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, have also restricted access to the abortion pill.

Elly Schlein, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), slammed the new law as “a heavy attack on women’s freedom”, while Five Star Movement MPs said Italy had “chosen to take a further step backwards”.

READ ALSO: What will Italy’s right-wing election victory mean for abortion rights?

Meloni has repeatedly said she has no intention of changing the abortion law, known as Law 194, but critics say she is attempting to make it more difficult to terminate pregnancies.

There have long been concerns that the election of Meloni’s hard-right coalition would further threaten womens’ reproductive rights in Italy.

Accessing safe abortions in Italy was already challenging as a majority of gynaecologists – about 63 percent according to official 2021 figures – refuse to perform them on moral or religious grounds.

In several parts of the country, including the regions of Sicily, Basilicata, Abruzzo, Molise and the province of Bolzano, the percentage of gynaecologists refusing to perform abortions is over 80 percent.

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