ROME — Silvio Berlusconi has split with his oldest political ally and co-founder of his party, a spectacular falling-out expected to make it harder for the premier to push disputed legislation through parliament.
Berlusconi’s split with Gianfranco Fini does not put the Italian leader’s 2-year-old government at immediate risk of collapse, analysts and officials said Friday. But it leaves the government with a slimmer parliamentary majority.
Fini and Berlusconi have been at odds on a number of issues, but most notably, Fini has expressed unease about bills that were perceived as protecting Berlusconi or his associates from legal woes.
On Thursday night, Berlusconi effectively ousted Fini from the People of Freedom Party, accusing him of creating a “party within a party.”
