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Embattled Berlusconi vows to stay on

Other News Materials 11 December 2009 18:44 (UTC +04:00)
The embattled leader of Italy's centre-right government, Silvio Berlusconi, vowed to stay on as prime minister Friday despite facing ongoing judicial investigations and rising tension with the country's widely respected president.
Embattled Berlusconi vows to stay on

The embattled leader of Italy's centre-right government, Silvio Berlusconi, vowed to stay on as prime minister Friday despite facing ongoing judicial investigations and rising tension with the country's widely respected president, DPA reported.

"I have never thought, not even once, of calling early elections. This government will last a whole term since Italians have entrusted it with their confidence and the task to govern for a full five years", Berlusconi said at a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels.

The 73-year-old premier has come under fire back home after telling fellow EU conservative leaders in Bonn: "Mamma mia: where would they (Italians) find someone who is as strong, hard and with balls like Mister Silvio Berlusconi?"

His remarks, voiced in front of an audience comprising German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the newly appointed president of the EU council, Herman Van Rompuy, sparked an outcry in Italy.

With such comments, our premier "reinforces Italy's image as a clownish country," said Rocco Buttiglione of the opposition Union of Christian Democrats.

Berlusconi, who returned to power in 2008, also infuriated Italian President Giorgio Napolitano by accusing the country's Constitutional Court of striking down his attempts at justice reforms, which were designed to give him immunity from prosecution, for political reasons.

Napolitano expressed "deep regret and concern" over Berlusconi's comments and qualified the premier's words as a "violent attack" on the country's institutions.

The president of the lower house of parliament, Gianfranco Fini, a key ally who has recently distanced himself from Berlusconi, also joined in the criticism.

"I hope that the prime minister will find a way to clarify his thoughts", Fini said.

Berlusconi is currently facing trials in Italy for tax evasion and for allegedly bribing a British lawyer to testify in his favour.

Last week he was also accused by a Mafia turncoat of nurturing ties with the Mafia. Those claims were however denied Friday by another Mafioso being held under police custody.

"Do you realize that this is all a farce?" Berlusconi told reporters in Brussels on Friday.

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