Read and translate the text. Dealing a Blow to Berlusconi, an Italian Senate Panel Recommends His Expulsion

Dealing a Blow to Berlusconi, an Italian Senate Panel Recommends His Expulsion

By JIM YARDLEY and GAIA PIANIGIANI

ROME — A special panel of the Italian Senate on Friday voted to strip Silvio Berlusconi of his current seat, a humiliating blow for a man who has dominated Italy for the past two decades but whose political career is now very much in jeopardy.

The expulsion vote against Mr. Berlusconi, based on his recent tax fraud conviction, was his second setback of the week, after his failed attempt to bring down the country’s fragile coalition government. The full Senate will probably decide by the end of the month whether to expel Mr. Berlusconi, though a vote against him is now considered very likely.

Mr. Berlusconi, 77, a former prime minister and billionaire media mogul, who once wielded power with a swagger, had fought for weeks to prevent the expulsion vote. Many analysts say his effort to topple the government was partly intended to interrupt or delay the proceedings against him in the Senate. But a mutiny of his center-right supporters forced him to make a public reversal and support the government in a parliamentary confidence vote.

“It’s a loss on all fronts for a man who is at the end of his career,” said Stefano Folli, a political commentator for the daily newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. “Now his twilight will be swifter. This clearly has a highly political and symbolic value.”

Mr. Berlusconi, who has spent most of the past two months out of the public eye, must now prepare to begin serving a one-year sentence on Oct. 15, most likely under house arrest, for the tax fraud conviction. He is also awaiting a ruling from a court in Milan, which will decide how many years he will be barred from seeking public office, based on the same conviction.

His legal troubles have shaken the center-right political movement he has led for the past two decades. Analysts say Mr. Berlusconi, if often controversial, has nonetheless been the undisputed central figure who has shaped his party. But with his career in trouble, several longtime protégés and followers abandoned him before the confidence vote and even spoke of splitting his People of Freedom party.

His loyalists have fought fiercely to derail the expulsion proceedings, arguing that the move is unconstitutional. Lucio Malan, a senator with Mr. Berlusconi’s party and a member of the special panel, described Friday’s vote as “very grave” and promised that the center-right would make its arguments before the full Senate.

But members of the center-left Democratic Party, the longtime opponents of Mr. Berlusconi, framed Friday’s vote as an example of rule of law.

“This is an instrument that protects Parliament and prevents people convicted for serious crimes from sitting in Parliament,” Felice Casson, a Democratic Party senator, said during an interview on Italian television. “In my opinion, we decided in a serene way, and we applied the law.”

For his part, Mr. Berlusconi has seemed erratic in recent weeks. Party insiders say he fears that Italy’s magistrates, long his adversaries, will now have the leeway to bring a fusillade of new investigations against him and could even put him in jail. As a senator, Mr. Berlusconi enjoys certain immunities from prosecution or detention.

As yet, public attitudes are difficult to gauge. Pro-Berlusconi posters began appearing in Rome on Friday as the Senate panel deliberated. Yet a recent survey showed that his People of Freedom party, recently leading in national polls, has since slipped to second place, behind the Democratic Party.

“This week has marked the almost complete decline for Mr. Berlusconi,” Mr. Folli said.

1. Find English equivalents to the following words and word combinations.

Унизительный удар, политическая карьера в опасности, недавние обвинения в мошенничестве, миллиардер, медиа олигарх, потеря на всех направлениях, отбывать готовой срок (наказания), последователи и протеже бросили его, посадить в тюрьму, национальный список избирателей, мятеж (восстание, бунт)

2. Explain in English how you understand the following words.

Interview, vote, law, political twilight, decline.

3. Answer the following questions.

 Who is Berlusconi?

 What political party does he represent?

 How long has he been in political power?

 What is his financial status?

 Why is he having a hard time with the law?

 He managed to keep his Senator immunity so far, didn’t he?

 What is he afraid of?

 Is he going to have a successful political career, according to the text?

4. Make your own examples with the expressions in the bold type.

5. Find mistakes in the following sentences.

1. The expulsion vote against Mr. Berlusconi, based on him recent tax fraud conviction, was his second setback of the week. 2. The full Senate will probably decide by the end of the month weather to expel Mr. Berlusconi. 3. Mr. Berlusconi, a former prime minister and billionaire media mogul, who once wielded power with a swagger, had fighted for weeks to prevent the expulsion vote. 4. Many analysts say his effort to topple the government were partly intended to interrupt or delay the proceedings against him in the Senate. 5. But a mutiny of his center-right supporters will forced him to make a public reversal and support the government in a parliamentary confidence vote.

6. Ask as many questions as possible to the following sentence.

His loyalists have fought fiercely to derail the expulsion proceedings, arguing that the move is unconstitutional.

7. Write 5 sentences about any politician from any country in the world.

(Name, political party, position held, success or failure in career, some detail on the character).