Italian Politics: Silvio Berlusconi, Social Worker

NOT good: but far from the worst outcome. On April 15th a Milan court ruled that Silvio Berlusconi should serve his sentence for tax fraud by helping in an old people’s home in Milan. But the former prime minister will be free to go to Rome from Tuesday to Thursday. In practice, the 77-year-old is unlikely to spend more than half a day a week pretending to help grannies, and then only for nine months.As often happens in Italy, a daunting punishment has been whittled down to a mild reproof. Mr Berlusconi’s four-year sentence was cut to one year because of an amnesty law from a centre-left government in 2006. He could not be jailed thanks to another law passed by one of his governments that bans the imprisonment of most over-70s. Since the court had ruled out house arrest, there is nothing to stop him leading his Forza Italia! party into next month’s European elections. The message that Mr Berlusconi was not just any criminal, but the leader of Italy’s main conservative party, was neatly conveyed to the judges when he spent some hours with the prime minister, Matteo Renzi, discussing a constitutional reform that requires his party’s parliamentary support.Despite this clout, three recent events have left the media tycoon and his party beleaguered. On April 10th a judge sequestered €49m ($ 68m) of assets said to belong to Roberto Formigoni, who was for 18 years governor of…

The Economist: Europe