Berlusconi skips his own question time

By Suzanne Bush
In Rome

It's been a rocky few weeks for Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi - what with a mighty spat with Germany, deep cracks in his coalition and a row over immunity.

Berlusconi is unrepentant over non-appearances

But Mr Berlusconi has also been under pressure over an entirely separate issue - prime minister's questions.

Mr Berlusconi hasn't attended a single session during his two years in office.

Critics say it shows a lack of respect for the workings of his own parliament.

Now, encouraged by the opposition, the official who controls parliament's agenda has been trying to make the Italian PM turn up.

Question Time was introduced in Italy six years ago. The idea was to make the government more accountable to the people, by providing a way of getting quick answers about the activities of the country's leader and his ministers.

Stand-in

But now it's been dubbed "Giovanardi Time", after Carlo Giovanardi, the minister responsible for parliamentary relations.

Week after week he is left to answer for his government, and many feel he is far from qualified to respond to most of the questions put to him.

He prefers going on television to having a verbal punch-up with very aggressive centre-left elected senators or MPs Robert Lasagna Former minister

The centre-left opposition say they would like to see Mr Berlusconi follow the example of his UK counterpart, Tony Blair, who attends every week except when abroad.

Piero Ruzzante, an MP for the Ulivo alliance, says question time in Britain enhances the role of the MP as a representative of the people and ensures the prime minister doesn't seem so untouchable.

"That is probably why Berlusconi chooses not to attend," he says.

But Robert Lasagna, who was undersecretary of state for the environment during Mr Berlusconi's first government, says the Italian prime minister has his own way of communicating with the people.

I think the fact that he doesn't show up should show the people that he's too busy for his role as prime minister and also suggests that he has something to hide Simona Palenga Voter

"He prefers going on television to having a verbal punch-up with very aggressive centre-left elected senators or MPs," he says.

A political institution as British as prime minister's questions was never going to work in Italy, he says.

The absence of the prime minister has assured that question time rarely makes the news in Italy.

"His answer shows that he doesn't consider the role of Parliament as too important, where he has a majority of almost 100 seats," says Gianna Fregonara, a political correspondent for the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

"Parliament is of course important, but maybe a little less than it used to be."

Voters' views

But many Italian voters believe the prime minister should give it more importance.

I think it's important that the people who are in charge of the destiny of the country answer the questions of the common people Giuseppe Gaetano Castorina Professor

"I think the fact that he doesn't show up should show the people that he's too busy for his role as prime minister and also suggests that he has something to hide," says Simona Palenga, 26, who works for the UN.

Language student Maria Grazia isn't surprised by his attitude.

"It's quite funny, but I think it's typically Italian," she says. "I think he's busy with his own affairs so he doesn't care very much about it, but it's not a good thing."

Giuseppe Gaetano Castorina, a professor at Rome's Sapienza university, thinks it's disappointing that question time doesn't work as it should.

"I think it's important that the people who are in charge of the destiny of the country answer the questions of the common people," he says.

For now, Mr Berlusconi is unrepentant. He has addressed Parliament 18 times since coming to power two years ago, he declares.

And in the absence of any powers to force him to attend, question time looks unlikely to get written into the Berlusconi appointments diary at any time in the foreseeable future.