Opposition wary of Berlusconi olive branch

BRUISED but not broken, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi appears to be milking his recovery from an assault by a protester this week to try to divide opponents by striking an unusually conciliatory tone.

Nursing a broken nose and teeth, the 73-year-old Italian conservative leader can hardly speak but few believe that the attack has tamed his combative nature.

His emollient comments as he left hospital on Thursday were immediately seen as an attempt to split the opposition and ease approval of a judicial reform process that would effectively restore his immunity from prosecution.

“In the past few days I have felt closer even to some political leaders of the opposition,” said the prime minister, better known for scathing tirades against his adversaries.

“If they distance themselves from the few instigators of violence, then a new phase of dialogue could begin,” Berlusconi said in a written statement.

That appeared a clear message for Pier Luigi Bersani, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, to shed his alliance with a small party led by former prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro, one of Berlusconi’s fiercest critics.

Bersani, who visited Berlusconi in hospital, responded coolly: “We know what we have to do. The ruling coalition and Berlusconi should think about their own shop.”

Di Pietro summed up the view of many on the centre-left, saying: “When the offer of dialogue comes from Berlusconi, the first thing to ask is: where is the trick?”

The assault capped a tough year for Berlusconi, who has been damaged by a string of sex scandals and a messy divorce, and faces the reopening of trials for corruption and tax fraud after the Constitutional Court lifted his immunity.

The outpouring of sympathy following Sunday’s bizarre incident, when a man with a history of mental illness threw a spiked model of Milan cathedral in his face at an outdoor rally, will earn him a reprieve.

But that may not last long in a country which remains as polarised as ever in its attitudes to the media tycoon.

Aides have described the usually irrepressible Berlusconi as demoralised after the assault. And in private some centre-right politicians say the pressure of the last few months was already taking its toll on him.

In the past, Berlusconi has proved an indomitable fighter – bouncing back from political, legal and health problems.

Many saw his immediate reaction to the attack – leaping out of his car defiantly to show his bloodied face to the crowd as bodyguards tried to bundled him inside – as a sign of his spirits and political reflexes.

“He is a lion, and he will be back roaring soon,” said his spokesman, Paolo Bonaiuti.

With two bills that could shield him from trials landing in parliament next month, the olive branch to the opposition appears designed to speed their approval.