On June 13th, his Forza Italia party lost a sixth of its voters in the European elections.
ECONOMIST: Silvio Berlusconi is cornered by his coalition allies
Mr Berlusconi said earlier his Forza Italia party had a mandate to lead until 2006 and it would do so.
The Northern League tends to share the enthusiasm for free-market reforms of Mr Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, while the former neo-fascists, unsurprisingly, favour strong state intervention.
Sen Amato, of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, has accused Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli of "arrogance" over his decision to agree the painting's departure.
Conservative Roman Catholics such as Marcello Pera, a member of Mr Berlusconi's Forza Italia party who is speaker of the Senate, are big on defending Europe's Christian roots.
Berlusconi turned his attention to politics in 1993 when he formed the center-right Forza Italia Party and the following year, in a snap election, he won the post of prime minister.
Prosecutors hope to find an answer during appeal proceedings that have just begun in Palermo, in a case involving Marcello Dell'Utri, a close associate of Mr Berlusconi and one of the founders of his Forza Italia political party.
Mr Berlusconi's party, Forza Italia, has three coalition partners to appease, its own campaign promises to keep, and no money to do either.
In one of its last acts before the election in April, the Italian parliament has passed a bill sponsored by Gaetano Pecorella, Mr Berlusconi's lawyer, who is also a deputy for his political party, Forza Italia.
It is most unlikely to do so, since Mr Berlusconi is not only leader of the opposition but also founder-president of a party, Forza Italia (Go, Italy), that in the latest general election collected 8m votes.
Some in Mr Berlusconi's Forza Italia, the right's biggest party, believe the referendums favour modernity.
Forza Italia won more seats than any other party because the competition has nothing to offer.
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