| Rumours rife over Berlusconi comeback |
ROME Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, forced out amid sleaze claims as the economy crashed last year, failed to show at a meeting where he had been tipped to announce a comeback.
Angelo Alfano, new leader of Berlusconi’s People of Freedom Party, said he had another unspecified engagement, while other sources cited security fears amid the presence of a few Libyan demonstrators at the late Friday gathering.
But the Corriere della Sera daily speculated that the underwhelming effect of an announcement before some 300 elderly supporters especially bussed in and fatigued by a Rome heat wave was the real reason for Berlusconi’s no-show.
Even so, Berlusconi’s fans seem convinced that their discredited hero will sooner or later — perhaps at a grand meeting after the summer holidays — declare that he will lead his PDL party into parliamentary elections planned for April next year.
The 76-year-old media magnate, one of the richest men in Italy, has gone on a diet and shed several kilos, said one of his favourite journalist, Bruno Vespa.
“For those who know him, it’s the sign that he will be travelling around a lot from the autumn and will reappear on television,” Vespa wrote on the website Quotidiano.net.
“And if he returns to television, that means he will return to politics,” Vespa said, adding that Berlusconi would consider 18 years of political commitment wasted if he did not try to revive his party’s fortunes.
“There is a major wave of support for Berlusconi to put forward his candidacy again,” party leader Alfano said on Wednesday.
“Many people are asking him to do this, and I am one of them... I think in the end he will decide to come back.”
Since handing over to a coalition government headed by Mario Monti to get Italy out of its financial mess, Berlusconi has said several times that he wanted Alfano, 41, his former justice minister, to succeed him.
But press reports say he is beavering away behind the scenes to reshape the party, which suffered a massive setback in May local elections.
Agence France-Presse
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