Berlusconi may return to politics

• Tweet

ROME, April 22 (UPI) -- After suggesting Italy needed a new political party, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi fueled speculation he may re-enter politics.

Berlusconi, 75, said the party he founded, the People of Freedom party, was finished. "It doesn't work," he told the Corriere della Sera newspaper. "We need a new structure to bring together moderate Italians."

Current People of Freedom Secretary Angelino Alfano, Berlusconi's protege, later told Italian media to anticipate an announcement which "will change the course of politics."

The ex-prime minister currently faces charges in three separate trials: He is accused of paying for sex with an underage prostitute, aiding in the publication of an illegally obtained wiretap and corruption in connection with a subsidiary of his media empire.

Despite all that, he said in February his approval rating was at 36 percent, higher than that of German Chancellor Angela Merkel or French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Although he previously said he would never run for a fourth term as prime minister, the approval rating may inspire him to run again, The Telegraph reported.