US embassy cable - 05ROME1446

UNCLAS ROME 001446 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PINR, IT, ITALIAN POLITICS 
SUBJECT:  ITALY:  NEW BERLUSCONI GOVERNMENT CONFIRMED 
 
REF:  A) ROME 1442, B) ROME 1409 
 
1.  (U)  SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; NOT FOR INTERNET 
DISTRIBUTION. 
 
2.  (SBU)  SUMMARY:  The new Italian Government led by Prime 
Minister Silvio Berlusconi received its final confidence 
vote from the Senate on April 28.  The Chamber of Deputies 
gave the new Government its confidence on April 27.  The 
Government retains its significant parliamentary majority, 
provided the four larger partners stay on board.  However, 
tensions between coalition partners remain.  Approaching 
elections will likely exacerbate those strains.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
3.  (U)  The Senate on April 28 voted 170 in favor, 117 
opposed, in straight coalition voting (all center-right in 
favor and all center-left opposed) to confirm Berlusconi 
III.  (Ref B)  This vote followed Chamber of Deputies 
approval on April 27, with 334 votes in favor, 240 against, 
and two abstentions, also in straight coalition voting. 
Together, four larger coalition partners (Forza Italia, FI; 
National Alliance, AN; Union of Christian Democrats of the 
Center, UDC; and Northern League, Lega) retain a significant 
parliamentary majority.  (The two smaller coalition 
partners, New Italian Socialists (PSI) and Italian 
Republicans (PRI) have no Senate seats and seven Chamber 
seats between them.) 
 
4.  (SBU)  Tensions remain in the governing coalition, 
however.  AN leader Gianfranco Fini called Berlusconi's 
presentation of the new Government's new program "an 
essential speech which decisively indicated end-of-term 
objectives and took in our requests to focus our attention 
on the south, business, and family income in the next couple 
of months."  UDC leader Marco Follini, however, delivered a 
unenthusiastic reply on behalf of his party, saying "We 
cannot coast toward 2006 as if everything were already 
decided -- the structure of the coalition, the leader, and 
perhaps, even the result.  I would not be loyal or 
constructive if I said 'everything's fine, we've already 
made the needed changes, we're happy.'  That's not the way 
it is," Follini concluded.  The Northern League's group 
leader in the Chamber, Alessandro Ce, helpfully addressed 
his coalition partners saying, "There is no axis of the 
north, but an axis of change, and it was your inadequacy and 
not the Lega's aggressiveness that made you lose your 
electors." 
 
5.  (SBU)  The opposition, meanwhile, reacted to the 
creation of the new Government as expected. Democrats of the 
Left (DS) leader Piero Fassino addressed Berlusconi 
directly, saying, "You did not have the courage (to face 
elections) because you knew you would have lost them.  Your 
allies decided not to call elections so they can wait a bit 
to see who can lead the coalition in 2006.  Italy is a great 
country and deserves a great government; instead, it is 
being led by a very small government."  Calling the center- 
right "deeply divided," Daisy leader Francesco Rutelli 
charged that PM Berlusconi failed over the past four years 
to enact his program.  Opposition leader Romano Prodi 
commented that Berlusconi only repeated proposals already 
presented over the past four years. 
 
6. (SBU)  COMMENT:  Imminent national elections will either 
exacerbate the strains within the center-right coalition or 
force the partners to work more closely together.  If they 
fail to deliver something to voters, particularly in the 
economic arena, it is hard to see how the center-right could 
win re-election.  Nonetheless, the tendency toward 
disintegration seems stronger thus far then that of hanging 
together to avoid hanging separately. 
SEMBLER 
 
 
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	2005ROME01446 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED