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Trouble could be brewing for Berlusconi

Paris: Is it finally curtains for Italy’s seemingly “untarnishable” Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who has gone from gaffe to gaffe, scandal to scandal with his popularity unscathed?

The media mogul, Italy’s richest man, who at 72 is serving his third term as Prime Minister, is mired in a series of sex scandals with prostitutes claiming he hired their services on several occasions at his luxurious villas and estates in Sardinia and Rome. The country has been agog with speculation on whether he had sexual relations with a lingerie model while she was still 17 and his wife of over 20 years, Veronica Lario, is suing him for divorce.

Earlier this week, another Pandora’s Box was opened when Patrizia D’Addario, a 42-year-old call girl, told prosecutors and the media she was paid €2,000 to attend two gatherings and stay the night at the Prime Minister’s imposing mansion in the centre of Rome in October and November last year. She also claimed to have slept with him and brandished a tape of some of their conversations. Ms. D’Addario’s version was backed up by Barbara Montereale (23), a former model and Miss Italy contestant, who claimed she too had been paid to attend his parties. The payments were made by two businessmen brothers who are Mr. Berlusconi’s friends.

While Mr. Berlusconi might enjoy the fact that the whole nation, even the world is discussing his continued sexual prowess, Italians who have long been indulgent of his many shenanigans suddenly find the joke going sour.

The number of his supporters is dwindling fast and the country’s powerful Catholic Church has waded into the controversy. In a stern editorial published in Avvenire, the newspaper of the Conference of Italian Bishops, the church has told Mr. Berlusconi in no uncertain terms that he “must clarify his position as soon as possible”.

The Prime Minister must give “a believable explanation about the most urgent questions, not only those from his political rivals, but also from a section of the public who are not, in principle, opposed to him,” the editorial stated.

There are other signs that big time trouble could be brewing for the Prime Minister whose greatest personal challenge so far seems to be staving off the advent of old age.

With his face lifts and hair transplants, tummy tucks and teeth implants, Mr. Berlusconi has lately begun to resemble a very dapper wax dummy. In the past he has laughed off his crude jokes and many gaffes that make civilised Italians wince. But now the tide appears to be turning.

Gianfranco Fini, parliamentary Speaker and one of the most senior figures in Mr. Berlusconi’s People of Freedom coalition, recently warned that there was “a risk that citizens could lose faith in politics and government institutions, which are the foundations of democracy,” as a result of the scandal.

The Editor of a right-wing intellectual paper, Giuliano Ferrara, who once served Mr. Berlusconi as Communications Minister and has remained a strong supporter since, said the Prime Minister would have to decide if he wanted a life made of “parties and beautiful girls” or turn his full attention to “a great political adventure”.

The Italian Prime Minister is to host the G8 Summit in July. Continued allegations will leave him in a weakened position.

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