Does Silvio Berlusconi harbour some secret hatred of Tony Blair? He claims to regard him as a tremendous friend, but this hasn't stopped him delivering a potentially killer blow to our former prime minister's ambition to become the first president of the European Union. As Blair sidles furtively towards his goal, the last thing he needs is Berlusconi's public endorsement. Berlusconi is not only widely despised among the other European leaders who will, if the Lisbon treaty is ratified, decide whether or not to give Blair the job; he is also increasingly friendless at home.
An opinion poll published in Rome yesterday showed that the sex and corruption scandals that have engulfed him are finally taking their toll. Trust in Berlusconi as prime minister has fallen to its lowest ever level – to 45% from 62% a year ago. The leftwing opposition, thanks to its dismal leadership, still lags a little behind Berlusconi's rightwing governing coalition; but the spell that Berlusconi has cast for so long over the Italian electorate with his vast wealth and media power seems at last to be breaking.
His reaction to the constitutional court's decision to lift his immunity from prosecution may have something to do with this, for it was that of a ranting tin-pot dictator, of a man lacking all respect for the institutions of the state. Screaming accusations of political bias at the constitutional court, he appealed to the supposedly higher authority of the "people" who had elected him, ending with the now notorious cry: "Viva l'Italia! Viva Berlusconi!" Even those Italians who had come to accept him as the father of his people must have found this performance a little scary and undignified.
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