Italy’s prime minister. Off the hook, at last

Date: 21/06/03

Silvio Berlusconi wins immunity from prosecution

AN IMMUNITY bill long awaited by Italy's embattled prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, was at last passed by parliament on June 18th. It ensures that the top five people in Italy's hierarchy - the state president, the prime minister, the speakers of the two houses of parliament and the constitutional court's president - cannot be prosecuted while in office. The bill becomes law as soon as the president, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, signs it - as he soon will.

After ten years of ferocious dispute in various courts and after three convictions for dishonesty (all so far set aside on appeal or under statute of limitation), Mr Berlusconi is almost, but not quite, off the judicial hook. His current trials will resume when he leaves office. But the most pressing one, in Milan, where he is accused of having bribed judges in the 1980s to stop a food company from being sold to his arch-rival, Carlo De Benedetti, will have to start from scratch, as the term of office of one of the judges has expired and he must be replaced.

It is also possible that at Mr Berlusconi's next court hearing, due on June 25th, the prosecution may challenge the new immunity law as unconstitutional. The constitutional court will then have to opine - and that takes time. So he will be safe from embarrassment during the six months, from July 1st, when Italy holds the European Union's presidency.

This is no coincidence. Many people in Italy, from President Ciampi (a centrist) to several MPs on the left who abstained during the vote, reckon that, however much they doubt Mr Berlusconi's probity, the spectacle of their prime minister being dragged into court when Italy is in the European spotlight would have been intolerable. Moreover, such people think it better to grant Mr Berlusconi immunity only while in office than to witness a string of laws being tailored to meet his judicial needs.

In any event, many - perhaps most - Italians are bored by Mr Berlusconi's legal tribulations. His supporters are convinced that he has been singled out by left-leaning magistrates; his opponents say Italian courts are fair and that the prime minister should accept their verdicts. So a kind of pointless stalemate, in the public view, has taken hold.

With Mr Berlusconi likely soon to be free of his court-room worries, will he at last start making the economic and other reforms promised when he took office two years ago? And, criminal charges apart, will he resolve his conflicts of interest which he pledged to do within 100 days of becoming prime minister?

Silvio Berlusconi wins immunity from prosecution.