Italy was in political turmoil today after prime minister Silvio Berlusconi dramatically split with his one-time most powerful centre-right ally, putting the country at risk of early elections.
In a tense string of events that climaxed last night, Mr Berlusconi accused Gianfranco Fini, the powerful speaker of the lower house of parliament, of being a traitor and conspirator and trying to administer a "slow death" to their party.
After months of tension and even open hostility between the estranged conservatives, Mr Berlusconi's party issued a tough document censuring Mr Fini, saying his actions and comments no longer reflected the ideals of the party he helped found.
Mr Berlusconi said the move would have no effect on the stability of his two-year-old government, even though Mr Fini is believed to control the votes of about 50 parliamentarians.
"There is no risk," Mr Berlusconi told a news conference last night. "We have a majority."
But Mr Berlusconi could risk either losing his majority in at least one house of parliament or seeing it slimmed down to a dangerous sliver of votes depending on the number of legislators loyal to Mr Fini who form a new voting faction.
Rome's left-leaning La Repubblica said the dramatic events had pushed the government "to the brink of crisis".
But the situation caused by what commentators called a de facto implosion of the centre-right was unprecedented, with no institutional guidelines on the sequence of steps over the next few days or weeks.
Several commentators today said Mr Berlusconi told his aides that if there were enough defectors and "if they make our lives difficult," he would prefer to hold early elections because he is convinced his party will do well without Mr Fini.
Corriere della Sera said the way Mr Berlusconi treated Mr Fini was so brutal that the break-up would be "insidious for the entire (political) system" and have long-lasting effects on the unity of the centre-right.
Mr Berlusconi has been locked for months in conflict with Mr Fini, who was once considered his heir as leader of the centre-right, prompting growing speculation that his government could fall well before its term ends in 2013.
The censure document, which was signed by all but three of the 36 members of the presidency of the People of Freedom (PDL) party, rebuked Mr Fini for positions and actions it said were incompatible with the party line.
It accused Mr Fini, who co-founded the PDL with Mr Berlusconi two years go, of waging "political opposition" within his own party and of trying to administer a "slow death" to it.
It stopped short of expelling Fini from the party, although many newspapers said Berlusconi had "booted him out."
Mr Fini, an ex-Fascist, dissolved his own National Alliance party to merge it with Mr Berlusconi's Forza Italy after nearly 14 years of supporting him in three previous governments.
Opposition leader Pier Luigi Bersani said Mr Berlusconi should admit that his government was in a deep crisis and that the prime minister should address parliament.
Mr Fini has enraged the prime minister by hammering away at the theme of morality and legality in government, and insisting that officials implicated in judicial investigations should resign.
He has also helped force Mr Berlusconi to water down a bill limiting the use of wiretaps by magistrates that would also have strongly restricted press reporting of wiretap transcripts, a move critics say would hamper the fight against corruption.
Mr Berlusconi said it would be up to parliamentarians themselves to decide if Fini, who was holding a news conference on Friday, should remain as lower house speaker.
Fini, said he had no intention of resigning from the speaker's role, which gives him enormous power to schedule debates and the pace of the legislative process.
Commentators said if the political situation becomes untenable, President Giorgio Napolitano could appoint an interim government to run business until new elections, like an administration headed by former finance minister Lamberto Dini in 1995 after the collapse of Mr Berlusconi's first government.
Reuters