The four-time Italian prime minister, who turns 81 in September, may be marred by sex scandals and barred from holding public office after a tax fraud conviction. But that hasn’t stopped him from emerging as a potent political force ahead of a parliamentary election early next year. [...]
Rejuvenated by a surprise success in June’s local elections, Forza Italia is neck-and-neck with the far-right Northern League led by Matteo Salvini. According to a recent survey by the Italian polling firm IPSOS, both parties are polling at just over 15 percent. [...]
“Berlusconi is playing his new game smartly, in a subtle way,” he added. “He knows he’s not the center of Italian politics anymore, but he still can be one of the few kingmakers.” [...]
But he has recently softened his once strident Europhobia in public appearances, focusing instead on an electoral program that includes a flat tax at 15 percent and a pledge to reform the European Union by rewriting all its main treaties, including the Maastricht Treaty that created the euro and introduced fiscal limitations on national governments.
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