Silvio Berlusconi tried, but failed, to topple the coalition government of Italy this week. A threatened mutiny in his own party forced him to reverse his position and back the government of Enrico Letta during a vote of confidence on Wednesday 2 October.

According to the New York Times, “Mr. Berlusconi’s attempt to bring down the government was intended to resuscitate his endangered political career as he faces a pending prison sentence, analysts say. Instead, it fractured his center-right movement in Italy, which was threatened with a wave of defections. Standing in the Senate, Mr. Berlusconi, 77, was forced to reverse himself and pledge his party’s support for the same government that he had failed to topple.”

Roberto D’Alimonte, a political analyst, commented that: “We are seeing the long twilight of the Berlusconi era.” Certainly, many Italian citizens and people throughout Europe  hope that this prediction is correct.

The New York Times, Corriere della Sera, and La Repubblica report on Berlusconi’s failed political maneuver.