This interview with Carlo Taormina is fantastic. Key points (all according to Taormina):
The “processo breve” is a bargaining tool. Offering to remove it from the agenda can be seen as a concession; a concession can win quick approval of a text of “legitimate impediment”.
The bill on “legitimate impediment” (repeated postponement of trial hearings due to [...]
Gianfranco Fini has been caught saying things about Berlusconi that Berlusconi doesn’t like. (Let’s leave aside for the moment the question of whether Fini’s comments were correct and/or inflammatory).
Berlusconi, according to the usual unnamed sources, wants Fini to be punished, even to the point of requiring him to step down as President of the Chamber [...]
The governor of Lazio, Piero Marrazzo, has been forced to step down, ostensibly because of poor health, after four police officers attempted to blackmail him with footage of him snorting cocaine with transsexuals.
The police officers had been stupid enough to offer the photos to the print media, including Chi magazine, which is part of the [...]
I didn’t get a chance to blog about the decision of the Italian Constitutional Court to invalidate the bill guaranteeing Berlusconi immunity from trial. The court ruled that any such immunity would require a constitutional amendment.
Now, Berlusconi might have already got what he wanted. The immunity bill stalled existing trials, and now they’d have [...]