- Title: ITALY: BERLUSCONI'S NEW GOVERNMENT WINS CONFIDENCE VOTE.
- Date: 28th April 2005
- Summary: (BN14) ROME, ITALY (APRIL 27, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. TV/PAN: ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER SILVIO BERLUSCONI ENTERING PARLIAMENT 0.19 2. TV: HIGH VIEW OF PARLIAMENT 0.22 3. TV: DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER GIULIO TREMONTI SITTING DOWN 0.27 4. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER SILVIO BERLUSCONI ADDRESSING PARLIAMENT, SAYING: "And so in my life, so full of success, I demand at least this, that I should be given credit when I say that I have seen nobody reach any results staring from an non cooperative position" 0.51 5. TV/PAN: PAN ACROSS PARLIAMENT 0.57 6. TV: APPLAUSE FOR BERLUSCONI, LEFT BENCHES JEERING BERLUSCONI (4 SHOTS) 1.17 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) BERLUSCONI SAYING: "I want to tell you gentlement of the left (wing): the Italian people have a lot of common sense, and they know that you exert a cultural hagemony they know well that you control the schools, the universities, television journalists, newspapers, magistrates, court rooms in the constitutional courts, 11 to 4 (judges in the constitutional court) and I stop here. And hence they did not want to give you a parliamentary majority and a government. They are too wise, they know very well that we would have a lesser democracy because the true democracy is founded on a system of checks and balances and weights and counter-weights. And so I am sure that Italians do not want to give also the government to the left, we are opening an extraordinary year, which will lead us to win the next elections as we did in 2001. Please grant me your confidence" 2.24 8. TV/PAN: APPLAUDS TO BERLUSCONI 2.30 9. GV: FOREIGN MINISTER GIANFRANCO FINI SPEAKING TO OTHER MINISTERS 2.35 10. MV: BERLUSCONI LISTENING TO OTHER SPEECHES AND SMILING 2.43 11. GV: NEW DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER GIULIO TREMONTI STANDING IN PARLIAMENT 2.48 12. TV: WIDE OF PARLIAMENT 2.53 13. TV/PAN: BERLUSCONI VOTING 3.12 14. GV: SCREEN SHOWING THE VOTE 3.22 15. GV/PAN: FINI VOTING 3.31 16. GV: SCREEN 3.37 17. GV: PIER FERDINANDO CASINI, HOUSE SPEAKER, READING VOTE RESULTS 4.06 18. GV: SCREEN SHOWING RESULTS 4.12 19. TV/TILT: WIDE OF PARLIAMENT 4.24 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 13th May 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ROME, ITALY
- Country: Italy
- Reuters ID: LVA6W1JLDEDWJY6RM8GAEU3AR8L8
- Story Text: Berlusconi's new government wins confidence vote.
Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi won a
confidence vote in parliament on Wednesday (April 27) ,
giving him up to a year more in power to persuade sceptical
electors to give him a second term.
The vote was the penultimate step to ending a
government split in which the media tycoon was forced to
resign last week by coalition parties who demanded a change
of tack after he suffered a devastating regional election
defeat.
The lower house voted 334 to 240 in favour of the
confidence motion with two abstentions. The upper house is
likely to give its backing in a vote due on Thursday,
drawing a line under the worst political crisis of
Berlusconi's four years in office.
In a spirited performance ahead of the vote, Berlusconi
told the opposition it was wrong to think he was fatally
weakened by events and that the centre-left leader, former
European Commission President Romano Prodi, would win the
next election.
"I want to tell you gentlement of the left (wing): the
Italian people have a lot of common sense, and they know
that you exert a cultural hagemony they know well that you
control the schools, the universities, television
journalists, newspapers, magistrates, court rooms in the
constitutional courts, 11 to 4 (judges in the
constitutional court) and I stop here. And hence they did
not want to give you a parliamentary majority and a
government ", Berlusconi said.
Berlusconi, who said he entered politics in the 1990s
to save Italy from the left, repeated his position that the
media, schools and the judiciary were controlled by
leftists and that most Italians preferred the right.
"We are sure that Italians will not want to put
everything in the hands of the left, we are set for an
extraordinary year and a final victory a year from now like
we had in 2001."
Opposition parties said the election bruising and
resignation had robbed Berlusconi of credibility. "There's
nothing worse than a politician who cannot look defeat in
the eye," said Piero Fassino, leader of the Democrats of
the Left.
But more damaging than the goading from the left may be
the continued tensions within Berlusconi's coalition.
The Union of Christian Democrats (UDC), the coalition
party which demanded Berlusconi resign last week, backed
the confidence motion, but its leader cast doubt on the
continued role of Berlusconi as the centre right's
figurehead.
Berlusconi, Italy's richest man, has often said he
never wanted to be prime minister, but saw it as his duty.
Berlusconi blamed the strong euro for Italy's weak
economic performance and has promised tax breaks for
families and a 12 billion euro ($16 billion) cut in
corporate taxes as part of a fresh drive to help companies,
families and the poor south.
The economy and Berlusconi's decision to send 3,000
troops to Iraq have been two factors in his popular
decline.
But he remains the only leader acceptable to all
parties on the right and is keen to win a new term. He has
told allied parties he will represent them only if they
converge into a single entity or agree on some sort of
majority voting system.
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