Silvio Berlusconi does not resign despite the partial lifting of his immunity

Silvio Berlusconi said on Friday 14 January, that the questioning of some of his immunity by the Italian Constitutional Court is not likely to affect the functioning of the government or to provoke early parliamentary elections. "The decision by the Constitutional Court yesterday [Thursday] has absolutely no influence.

The government will continue to move forward because the last thing Italy needs is an early election," he said on Canale 5 television. The Constitutional Court Thursday struck down a law that protected the chairman of prosecution for charges of bribery and tax evasion relating to his media group Mediaset.

The supreme judge felt that the text was in many ways contrary to the Constitution and that the prime minister and his ministers could not automatically invoke the "sufficient cause" to avoid prosecution. The law passed in March 2010 allows ministers to invoke their functions to not go to court for a maximum period of 18 months until the end of September 2011.

• Silvio Berlusconi Temporarily Subject To Prosecution (13/01/2011)
• Berlusconi's fate hangs in balance (13/01/2011)
• Berlusconi Immunity Law Decimated by Court (13/01/2011)
• Silvio Berlusconi dealt blow over immunity ruling (13/01/2011)
• Silvio Berlusconi dealt blow over immunity ruling - Telegraph.co.uk (13/01/2011)

Silvio Berlusconi (wikipedia)  Berlusconi Obama Suntanned - English Subtitles (youtube)