Da Telegraph: Berlusconi's former ally Fini launches bitter attack. From Nick Pisa in Rome
Published: 10:43PM BST 05 Sep 2010 Silvio Berlusconi's former ally Gianfranco Fini has launched a bitter attack on the Italian Prime Minister, accusing him of “genuflecting to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.”
Mr Fini, who co-founded the People of Freedom Party with Mr Berlusconi, left the party two months ago following a bitter feud with his former friend Photo: AP
Mr Berlusconi, 73, gave the controversial Libyan leader a fawning welcome last week on a trip to Italy – despite the visit sparking outrage as Gaddafi held a series of 'convert to Islam' parties.
Mr Fini said: “We watched an undignified spectacle – a welcome for a man who can teach us nothing about respect for women or human dignity.
“As a former Foreign Minister I know about real politik but you cannot genuflect to someone like that.”
Mr Fini, who co-founded the ruling centre right People of Freedom Party with Mr Berlusconi, left the party two months ago following a bitter feud with his former friend.
In a two hour speech to followers of his new Future and Liberty party, Mr Fini accused Mr Berlusconi of mixing “leadership with ownership”, adding that Italians were “not his subjects.”
Mr Fini spoke to a crowd of several thousand at Mirabello near Ferrara, in what was his first public speech since being removed by Mr Berlusconi.
The two had clashed over a new law which Mr Berlusconi wants to introduce which would shorten the time frame of trials and make it easier for accused to escape punishment.
Mr Fini called his ejection from the People of Freedom Party as “illiberal and authoritarian, worse than Stalinism…thrown out of a party that I helped create.”
Mr Fini also accused Berlusconi of running Italy like one of his many business assets.
“Governing can never, ever, in any way mean commanding. If anything it guarantees a balance between power and reason.
“We are very grateful for what he (Berlusconi) has done but gratitude does not mean that every time we express a different opinion or are critical we are accused of treason.
“There can be no accusation of treason because we are not a population of subjects. I have never contested Berlusconi as a leader but he has a habit of confusing leadership with running one of the companies he owns.”
Mr Fini also again reiterated that he was opposed to the introduction of any laws that would benefit Mr Berlusconi, although he did concede that he did “need protection so that he could be allowed to govern.”
Mr Fini ended his speech by pledging his support for Berlusconi's government saying they would “honour the pact made with the electorate” but added that the People of Freedom Party was “now dead.”
