Former PM Berlusconi Returns To Hospital: Reuters

Reuters reporting that according to a source, former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has been re-admitted to hospital in Milan, less than two weeks after being discharged on 30 April.

• Berlusconi, 84, contracted COVID-19 in September 2020 and was hospitalised in April for subsequent check ups. In 2016 he underwent major heart surgery, and has also survived prostate cancer.
• The media magnate continues to lead the centre-right Forza Italia party, and is a sitting MEP. His party is one of several that is a member of the national coalition gov't under Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Opinion polls continue to show Forza Italia consistently hovering just below the 10% support level. If this support were carried through to the next election - due in 2023 - it would result in a notable loss of seats for the party, which currently sits as the fourth largest in the Chamber of Deputies and third largest in the Senate.
• The party is likely to prove the kingmaker following any future vote, with expectations that it would prop up a right-wing gov't involving the populist right-wing League and nationalist Brothers of Italy. However, Forza could end up involved in a more centrist gov't with the centre-left Democratic Party and populist 5-Star Movement. The choice of which gov't Forza seeks to support could come down to who is leading the party, whether it is Berlusconi or another individual.
• There is also the prospect that once Berlusconi steps down or departs the scene, the party winds up. Since the early 1990s, Forza Italia has been Berlusconi's political vehicle, and without its charismatic leader there is a sizeable chance the party is unable to continue in its present form.