ROME, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi defended everything from his handling of the Neapolitan trash crisis to his personal life Thursday.
At an end-of-year meeting with the news media, Berlusconi said he expects to be able to reform his government by the end of next month, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. If he fails, then a parliamentary election will be necessary.
Last week, Berlusconi survived a no-confidence vote triggered by supporters of his former ally, House Speaker Gianfranco Fini, who formed the People of Freedom Party with him. He told reporters he plans to change the party's name, partly because he wants more moderates in his group and partly because he dislikes its Italian acronym, PdL.
Berlusconi suggested a leftist plot is behind continued trash problems in Naples, blaming them on local officials who have failed to follow through on commitments his government negotiated. Accusations of corruption in construction contracts in the Abruzzi region, devastated by an earthquake, are "mudslinging" from the left.
The prime minister blamed his estranged wife for public criticism of his lifestyle by his daughter, Barbara. UPI
