Berlusconi’s battle amid the ruins

Re-elected in April 2008 with a crushing majority of more than 100 seats, Silvio Berlusconi began his new mandate with a free hand, so demoralised was the opposition by its defeat.

The prime minister put the Naples rubbish crisis at the top of his priority list.

“I confirm that we will hold our first cabinet meeting in Naples, if only to show in a symbolic way the importance I give to resolving this crisis,” he said.

Two and a half years later, the problem of refuse collection in the Naples region is far from being resolved. In October, with the government accused of ignoring it, people’s exasperation spilled over into violence. The new crisis did little for the prime minister’s credibility.

In early November it seemed as if Italy’s very image was under attack. At Pompeii a wall of the House of the Gladiators collapsed due to a lack of maintenance. There have been seven collapses in a year, according to Italy’s archaeologists. They blame the government.

“The problem is that over the last two years, decisions concerning the conservation of Pompeii have been made by politicians and not by experts, and the politicians have been interested in a management style that gets immediate results, short-term results that are great (only) in appearance,” said Tsao Cevoli, President of the National Association of Archaeologists.

But it was an nth scandal over the prime minister’s personal life that weakened him still further. First there were reports that a 17-year-old Moroccan nightclub dancer had been attending Berlusconi’s parties.

Then Italians learned that the head of the government had intervened when she was arrested on suspicion of theft, calling a police station in Milan to ask for her release.

As if that wasn’t enough, the whiff of corruption has also given the prime minister a headache. In May a property scandal embroiled some of his closest aides, including Guido Bertolaso, head of Civil Protection, and the Economic Development Minister Claudio Scajola, who was forced to hand in his resignation.

In July, only 16 days after being appointed Minister without Portfolio, Aldo Brancher in turn stood down amid accusations of embezzlement.

The final blow for Berlusconi was the open political row with Gianfranco Fini. In April, in full view of the cameras, he was accused by his former ally of leading the PDL party like a monarch.

Fini left the party in the summer. Last month came the resignation of four Fini supporters from the coalition government.

The split was to cost Berlusconi his parliamentary majority, paving the way for the no-confidence vote.

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