ROME (AA) - Italian Senate recommended Friday the expulsion of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi from the senate over his conviction for tax fraud.
The justified decision will be made public in 20 days, said Dario Stefano who chaired the Senate panel.
Reaction arose from Berlusconi's People of Freedom Party (PDL) following the Senate's recommendations. "It is worse than expected," is what Renato Schiffani of PDL said over the latest developments.
Berlusconi, who dominated politics for nearly two decades in Italy, ordered on Saturday the five PDL cabinet ministers to resign which they quickly did. On the following days, however, some ministers publicly expressed their doubts over the wisdom of resigning. Later, PDL parliamentarians started going against Berlusconi and said they would support the Prime Minister Enrico Letta's coalition government instead of voting against it.
As there was an increasing flow against him, Berlusconi decided to change his tactic in order to regain control of the PDL and stop a split within the party. That is why he later said he and his party would support Letta government in the confidence vote.
Berlusconi slams Senate's verdict to eject him as 'shameful'
Upon the recommendation of the Italian Senate to expel him from the parliamentary seat, Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the verdict was "shameful, seeking to eliminate the rival via judicial means."
A panel at the Senate of the Republic held on Friday to determine the parliamentray future of the three-time premier voted in favour of stripping Berlusconi of his senator seat after the Italian Supreme Court upheld a tax-fraud conviction against him last month.
He argued that the recommendation verdict taken by a cross-party committee of 23 Senators dominated by his political opponents was a violation "of the State based on the rule of law that hits the heart of democracy".
The billionaire media magnate also denounced the decision, calling it as a breach of the European Conventions, and against the principles of the Constitutional Court regarding the impartiality of the decisivie organs and the non-retroactivity of the criminal laws.
To be made public within 20 days, the Senate decision needs to be ratified by the Upper House to become effective, where Berlusconi's centre-right People of Freedom (PdL) party has minority, as it is on the panel.
The ex-premier of Italy sparked a political crisis on Saturday when he ordered the ministers from PdL to quit the grand-coalition government of Prime Minister Enrico Letta, in a counter-move to eject him from the parliament upon his definite tax-fraud conviction.
His trial to sink Letta government came to nothing as it created a flow against him from his party, which obliged him to make a surprise u-turn in order to secure his control of the PdL.
Thus, the 77 year-old media boss made a position shift to vote in favor of the grand-coalition government on Wednesday which enabled the Letta to keep his government afloat with gaining the confidence of the Senate, surviving from Saturday's political stalemate.
