Word: berlusconi
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...debate may be rendered moot by the financial woes of the wealthier countries, especially the current holder of the G-8's rotating leadership position, Italy. Geldof on Thursday tore into Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government, which he called a "crowd of shysters" at a press conference. "How can you possibly trust any government that promises something, does nothing, and expect them to lead the world?" he fumed to reporters. "How dare they...
...Italian politics seems much more about the show on TV than the showing at the ballot box. Indeed, after so much huffing and puffing on the campaign trail, the results from weekend voting left the political landscape in Italy mostly unchanged. Berlusconi's People's Freedom Party notched 35% of the electorate, safely ahead of the center-left challengers but short of the runaway victory the 72-year-old billionaire Berlusconi had hoped...
...biggest beneficiaries of the relative status quo were two smaller groupings on opposite sides of the political spectrum. On the left, the Italy of Values Party, led by former anticorruption prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro, tallied 8% by appealing to voters who want a more aggressive approach in taking on Berlusconi. On the right, the once separatist Northern League Party, allied with Berlusconi, collected an impressive 10% of the vote, as its sometimes nasty anti-immigration rhetoric registered with an electorate feeling the effects of the economic crisis...
...Among Italy's more mainstream opposition parties, the results confirm deep division. There's now a risk that Italy's left might splinter further, mostly because nobody can agree on how best to take on Berlusconi, a man who has dominated politics for 15 years with the most personalized of approaches to governing. Questions remain about the use of the presidential aircraft to bring entertainers to Berlusconi's villa on Sardinia, and reports are circulating of additional racy shots in a series of photos recently published by the Spanish daily El País that showed naked and half-naked...
...Europe. Although President Nicolas Sarkozy is deeply unpopular in France, his UMP party saw its vote rise to 27.7% from the 16.6% it garnered at the last European elections in 2004, while the Socialist Party slumped from 28.9% in 2004 to 16.5% this time. In Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right coalition surged 6.9% to secure 35% of the vote, ahead of the center-left opposition at 26%. Spain's governing Socialists slipped 4% to 38.5%, behind the opposition Popular Party at 42.2%, while Portugal's ruling Socialists suffered a stunning collapse in support, by 18 points...