(4 Oct 2013) The political career of Italy's former premier, Silvio Berlusconi, may reach the end of the line on Friday as a Senate panel could recommend stripping him of his seat following his tax fraud conviction and four-year prison sentence.
Buffeted by scandal, convicted of corruption, abandoned by allies, Berlusconi has been written off countless times over the two decades in which he dominated Italian politics - and each time he made a miraculous escape from the political dead.
But now it appears the days of his supremacy within the Italian political arena could be numbered after an eventful week that saw him face the opposition of the majority of his own lawmakers in a crucial senate vote.
Berlusconi, the leader of the People of Freedom (PdL) party, on Wednesday acknowledged defeat and announced he would support the government of Prime Minister Enrico Letta in a confidence vote, a stunning about-face after defections in his party robbed him of the backing he needed to bring down the government.
Wednesday's developments received a mixed welcome in Milan, Italy's financial and fashion capital which is also the centre of Berlusconi's business empire and where locals have always paid a keen interest in the political, legal and private setbacks that have dogged the former premier.
"They (Berlusconi's PdL party) will change for sure. There will be no more pyramid management: one head that commands, and that's it, the others all silent. No, there will be more freedom, really, even within the party," said shopper Alberto.
Some Milanese were less confident Il Cavaliere's (the Knight's) political influence could really be over.
"Really Berlusconi will always come out on his feet, he's not going anywhere. But if those with him finally no longer agree to follow him blindly wherever he goes, this is certainly a signal that wasn't there before," said Luca Giovanini.
Economist Tito Boeri said Berlusconi's power to threaten to derail the government had decisively been weakened.
"Because really many of the threats and blackmail that Berlusconi was activating in the past, can no longer be credible. You know, like opening a cabinet crisis, is not any longer a credible threat," he said.
He also said the averting of a political crisis is hugely important for Italy's economy, which could have suffered another painful downgrading by credit ratings agencies if the government had fallen.
The Senate committee is set to rule on whether his four-year prison sentence for tax fraud means he should be stripped of his seat.
A 2012 law bans anyone sentenced to more than two years in prison from holding or running for public office for six years.
Separately, a Milan appeals court will decide later this month on the exact length of a political ban, from one to three years, that was included alongside the four-year sentence in the tax fraud case.
Berlusconi also must decide if he wants to serve his sentence - reduced to one year due to a general amnesty extended to first-time offenders - under house arrest or by performing social services, a choice that will impact his political reach.
Beyond that, Berlusconi is appealing his seven-year sentence on a conviction of paying a minor for sex and forcing public officials to cover it up.
That sentence, if confirmed, carries a lifetime political ban.
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