Berlusconi turns back time and vows to reverse decline

MOST political leaders age rapidly during their careers in the public eye – not so Silvio Berlusconi.

Yesterday the charismatic and controversial Italian was touting his plans to save the country after winning the general elections with an impressive majority, and looking younger than he did in 2001 during what was his second period in power.

He makes no secret of his love of the cosmetic surgeon's knife.

Mr Berlusconi, 71, pledged yesterday to use his win to push through economic reforms, and vowed to close the border to illegal immigrants.

The conservative secured a third term as prime minister but owed his majority to the support of the xenophobic Northern League, with 8 per cent of votes.

In comments likely to be applauded by the League, he promised tough measures against crime as well as an Italian rescue for Alitalia airline and an end to a rubbish collection crisis in Naples.

"One of the first things to do is to close the frontiers and set up more camps to identify foreign citizens who don't have jobs and are forced into a life of crime," Mr Berlusconi said.

"Secondly we need more local police constituting an 'army of good' in the piazzas and streets to come between Italian people and the army of evil."

But credit ratings agencies were wary of Mr Berlusconi, whose last government in 2001-6 saw a reversal of an extended fall in Italy's public debt, the world's third highest.

Standard & Poor's said he had a "sufficiently robust mandate" to tame spending and raise productivity, but his willingness to liberalise the economy and cut debt was "questionable".

Although many Italians doubt any government can cure the country's ills, Mr Berlusconi's strong position could help him to push reforms through.

UniCredit bank economist Marco Valli said: "This framework is good news: the blackmailing power of smaller parties has been drastically reduced, and Italy is now more aligned to the experience of several other European countries."

Parliament has been purged of tiny parties, which have held coalitions hostage in the past, and will now have six parties as opposed to 20 after the 2006 election. Romano Prodi quit as prime minister in January after a small Catholic party defected.

"Now we'll govern like major western democracies, with one major party in power and one major party in opposition," said Mr Berlusconi. "With the extremists gone... we'll get to work modernising this country."

His campaign pledges included tax cuts on first homes and on overtime income to help consumers and boost growth.

But economists say he has a record of failing to carry out meaningful reforms and control spending, while his main allies are protectionist parties who may obstruct reforms.

The election made the Northern League the third-largest force after Mr Berlusconi's People of Freedom and the defeated Democratic Party of Walter Veltroni. Mr Berlusconi has promised the League at least two cabinet posts.

A drubbing for the far left means Italy will have no communist or socialist in parliament for the first time in recent memory.

COALITION OF MAVERICKS

SILVIO Berlusconi will have a cumbersome ally in the Northern League, a maverick party whose surprise success helped to propel the conservative leader to a major triumph in Italy's election.

The Northern League came to prominence in the 1990s with its calls for secession, which it has since disavowed. It is now best known for its anti-immigrant views.

Earlier this month, its leader threatened to take up arms against what he said was the Left's attempt to rig ballots. A senior official went on TV wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad, originally published in Denmark, that provoked widespread outrage among Muslims around the world.

Some analysts said Mr Berlusconi would be held a hostage to the League's demands, but party officials rejected that view. They point to the fact that they had been a faithful ally of Mr Berlusconi during the media mogul's 2001-6 stint as premier, and that the trouble then came from a centrist party now excluded.