Silvio Berlusconi Kicked Out Of Senate
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Fred Pleitgen in Damascus. I will have the latest on how the possible Geneva peace talks are shaping up and who might be attending.</s>ANDERSON: And planes, trains and automobiles, CNN's reporters put America's Thanksgiving travel chaos to the test.</s>ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN London, this is Connect the World with Becky Anderson.</s>ANDERSON: A very good evening. Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been dealt one of the biggest blows of his political career. After months of wrangling, the Italian Senate has voted to expel Mr. Berlusconi from parliament after his conviction for tax fraud. Now he's being stripped of his senate title, meaning he's lost partial immunity and can now face further prosecution. But is this really the end for Italy's comeback king? CNN's senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman joining us live from Rome. We are this evening saying ciao il cavaliere (ph). Is that the right thing to do? Is this arrivederci at this point?</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I would say it's arrivederci for Mr. Berlusconi, because he has many time before seemed to have been teetering on the brink of the edge of his political career and has come back. Now 192 members of the Italian upper house, or senate, did vote to expel him as opposed to 113 who wanted him to stay. Now he has to basically serve this sentence for tax fraud, but because of his advanced age, 77, it's a fairly mild sentence, only one year of community service and He's barred from holding public office for two years. But it's not as if He's down and out, He's one of the richest men in Italy. And I'm sure the creature comforts will make his life a little more comfortable. And of course he still has many followers here in Italy, on the right at least. And he may not be able to be a direct player in Italian politics, but with all his influence He's probably still going to be pulling the strings. However, Becky, let's not forget He's facing a lot of other legal troubles. he's been convicted and He's appealing that conviction for having sex with an underaged minor, that's the so-called Ruby Rubacuori, Ruby the Heartstealer. he's also facing charges for apparently bribing a member of the senate to switch parties. he's also facing charges of using his position as prime minister to engage in corrupt practices. So let's of drama left to this soap opera D Becky.</s>ANDERSON: All right, so what have we heard from Italians today?</s>WEDEMAN: Well, the usual mixture. Some of the people who attended a large rally outside his residence in downtown Rome were his diehard supporters. They said D one man who was wearing Milan football jersey, that's a team owned by Mr. Berlusconi, said OK, He's out of the game for the moment, but he'll be back on the team and he will bring positive results. Another Italian I spoke to said, look, I'm 23-years-old Berlusconi has always been in Italian politics. it's time for him to go. So a very mixed opinion. This is a man that nobody has a neutral opinion about. So he will continue to stir up controversy in one form or another in office or out of office.</s>ANDERSON: Ben Wedeman for you in Rome this morning. Ben D or this evening. Ben, thank you very much indeed for that. Well, Mr. Berlusconi has dominated Italian politics for two decades. And what a colorful 20 years it's been. let's take a look back on some of the key moments in the former premier's somewhat scandalous political career.</s>ANDERSON: Scenes of celebration on November 12, 2011. Italians had just learned that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was stepping down. Many blamed this colorful leader for the country's economic crisis and were tired of the scandals that turned his political career into an international skeptical. Since he was first elected prime minister in 1994, Berlusconi has appeared in court on charges related to tax fraud, bribery and paying for sex with an under-aged prostitute. that's led to several convictions. In October last year, Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud and given a four year prison sentence. Three years of that were pardoned, but he must still pay a sentence in community service. In March, this year Berlusconi was sentenced to a year in prison for illegally leaking a police wiretap of a political rivals phone calls. Berlusconi is appealing that ruling. This June, he was found guilty of having sex with a then under-aged prostitute and abusing his power. That brought a seven year sentence, which he is also appealing. Despite the political circus that surrounds him, Silvio Berlusconi has maintained a level of public appeal. On a platform of anti-austerity, Berlusconi's coalition won almost 30 percent of the vote in Italy's last general election. However, his political power came into question in October. After vowing to topple the government coalition in a no confidence vote, Berlusconi made a last minute U-turn when members of his own party sided with Prime Minister Letta. A fall from grace for Italy's most persistent political force.</s>ANDERSON: Well, earlier I spoke to Bill Emmott who is the former editor of The Economist magazine and co-writer of the documentary called "Girlfriend in a Coma" about Italy's economic decline. I asked him how significant this day is for Silvio Berlusconi. This is what he told me.</s>BILL EMMOTT, FRM. EDITOR OF THE ECONOMIST: For Berlusconi himself, this is a new beginning of a new phase in his political career. And he likes new beginnings. He is now clearly in opposition. He clearly can present himself as a victim. He will now, I think, clearly go euro skeptic. So for the European elections next year, for the general election, whenever that takes place, there's now going to be a clear lineup between the opposition D Berlusconi, the comedian Bepe Grillo, the Northern League separatist anti-immigrant group there, all euro skeptic against the government and the left wing party which are pro-Europe.</s>ANDERSON: Bill, how significant a role will he play in his Forza Italia party going forward?</s>EMMOTT: I think Silvio Berlusconi is bound to be still the focus of Forza Italia, his party. he's the financier, He's the organizer, He's the front man in every TV show, in every communication opportunity. So I think as long as the law allows him to do that D and there's an important question about that D then he will be the main man. The important question is that he now has to choose between house arrest for nine months or community service for his criminal conviction for tax fraud. If he chooses house arrest, actually that's more comfortable, but it does restrict what He's allowed to do, such as not appear on TV talk shows, not make platform speeches in piazzas. If he does community service, he might end up cleaning the toilets, but he will make it into a kind of campaign platform. So that choice is going to be crucial.</s>ANDERSON: He still has a significant amount of support. There are those today calling this a coup. He, himself, has told his supporters that D and I quote D no political leader has suffered a persecution such as I have lived through. Going forward, does what's happened today do him more or less good with his supporters, do you think?</s>EMMOTT: I think with his base, with his core supporters, which is probably about 15 to 20 percent D probably 15 percent of the vote, with them it does him good. They think of him as one of them. They feel victimized by the tax system. They feel victimized by the judges. They feel He's on their side. With them, he now clearly is on their side, because He's in the same situation as they are. With the extra 10 to 20 percent that he needs to really form a D be politically powerful it's probably bad for him, because they want Italy to reform. They want Italy to make progress. And He's not going to be able to be part of that, at least in the near future.</s>ANDERSON: Bill, you and I spoke before the Italian elections earlier this year about the documentary that you had made "Girlfriend in a Coma," alluding to Italy being in a coma. Is it still that bad?</s>EMMOTT: I think that Italy's economic situation is still that bad, but the coma is breaking. In other words, there's an awakening of public opinion, an awakening of the media and an awakening of quite a lot of the political establishment to the fact that something needs to be done, that really things have to change. Until today, they were blocked by the whole saga of Silvio Berlusconi. Now, from today, they are liberated to show that actually they are going to try to treat the coma and actually bring my girlfriend out of the hospital's intensive care ward. This is now the test, can they do that? I believe that they want to do it.</s>ANDERSON: When she gets out of that coma, though, you are pretty confident tonight that Mr. Silvio Berlusconi will be around in some form or guise?</s>EMMOTT: Definitely Silvio Berlusoni is not going to go away.</s>ANDERSON: Bill Emmott speaking to me earlier. Well, still to come tonight, we are live in Damascus as the Syrian government announces it will take part in a new round of peace talks. And, standing firm: how Thai protesters are vowing to keep up their demonstrations until their government resigns. Plus, Belgium comes one step closer to giving children the right to die. That and much more when Connect the World continues. It is 12 minutes past 8:00 in London. Back after this.