After dominating Italian politics for 17 years, Silvio Berlusconi was forced to resign as prime minister on Saturday. Italy has piled up $2.6 trillion in sovereign debt — an incredible 130 percent of the nation's gross domestic product of $2 trillion — and Berlusconi's government crumbled when it failed to pull the country back from the brink of financial disaster. After resigning, the 75-year-old media magnate was jeered by angry crowds who hurled coins at his limousine and called him a clown. Still, Berlusconi has rebounded before from innumerable political setbacks, corruption charges, and sex scandals. Is his political career truly over?
Silvio is really and truly done: Berlusconi is lucky he wasn't "led out of office in handcuffs," says Alex Fusco at Britain's Independent. For years, the "undisputed clown of international politics" dodged corruption convictions and somehow emerged unscathed from one sex scandal after another. But letting Italy slide "into the abyss" of fiscal crisis has discredited Berlusconi with "politicians from all sides." There's no future in Italian government for him.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.