Silvio's Out

Scratch one conservative Prime Minister:

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi plans to resign to form a new government for the final year of the parliamentary term, bowing to an ally's demands for change after losing 11 out of 13 regional elections on April 3 and 4, leaders from two allied parties said.

"There will be a second Berlusconi government that adheres to the policies indicated by our party," Rocco Buttiglione, the president of the Union of Christian Democrats party who resigned as European Union Affairs Minister on April 15, said today in Rome. "I'm convinced that it's possible to fortify the center-right coalition very quickly," Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini, the leader of the National Alliance, said in a statement.

Support for Berlusconi, 68, has declined as the economy struggled, with growth last year slower than any of the dozen nations sharing the euro except for Portugal. Before national elections scheduled for 2006, allies including the Christian Democrats are opposing Berlusconi's plan to cut income taxes and boost spending on public works to help growth, instead demanding business-tax reductions and aid to Italy's depressed south.

Long the odd-man out in continental Europe, Berlusconi has been a close ally of America and backed Bush's foreign policy. Under Berlusconi, Italy deployed over 3,000 troops in Iraq, the fourth largest contingent after the U.S., U.K. and Australia--though last month Berlusconi announced Italy would withdrawal from Iraq starting in September.

Champagne probably is flowing at The Economist magazine, which has a long-standing and very public grudge against Berlusconi, accusing him of corruption and conflicts of interest. Tried several times, Berlusconi never was convicted. French President Chirac and German Chancellor Schröder doubtlessly are pleased at the misfortunes of the pro-Bush Berlusconi.

Berlusconi is no saint. And he was less popular among Italians than in the United States. Still, says NRO's Michael Ledeen, he's a scapegoat:

[T]he biggest reason for the near-unanimous attack on Berlusconi is that he's often had the courage to speak the truth when the rest of the Eurocrats were cowering behind the conventional wisdom. Two examples stand out. The first was at a European conference shortly after 9/11, when Berlusconi said that Western civilization was clearly superior to the Islamic version. We had freedoms that they did not, we were tolerant and they were not, and we were more creative and more wealthy and more productive. The roof fell in, he was written off as a hopeless paleolith, and he even backed off somewhat.

The second example took place a couple of weeks ago [in 2003], when he went to Israel and, faced with the usual choice, opted to meet with Sharon instead of Arafat. Not only, but he signed a defense agreement with the Israelis, and then permitted himself a bon mot at the expense of Chirac. Berlusconi had nothing good to say about Palestinian terrorism, and noted that Chirac, by siding with the Palestinians, had "missed a good occasion to remain silent." It will be recalled that Chirac had blasted the "new" European countries for supporting the United States before Operation Iraqi Freedom, and had tried to intimidate the Central Europeans by saying they had missed the opportunity to shut up.

Rocco Buttiglione might be a good replacement but, religious freedom notwithstanding (see Article II-70), secular Europe disapproves because he's Catholic. More evidence that liberty of any sort is vanishing in the new EU.

(via NIF)