Italy ex-PM Berlusconi reappears following illness

Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has told supporters he’s ready to go back to work after a month in hospital.

The 86-year-old, who is suffering from leukaemia, was rushed into intensive care with a related lung infection but his condition has since stabilised.

There has been no word on when he might leave hospital.

In a video address from his room, Mr Berlusconi thanked his Forza Italia party members for their support.

“I never stopped, not even in the past few weeks,” he said in the pre-recorded message, in which he appeared smartly dressed in a suit.

“I worked on the party’s new structure and I’m ready to return to work with you and fight alongside you our fights for freedom.”

Party members clapped enthusiastically at the end of the speech and some could be seen holding back tears.

The message was filmed on Friday after relatives and doctors stopped the billionaire media tycoon from being discharged out of concern he would try to attend the party’s two-day convention in Milan, according to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

He spent two weeks in intensive care before being moved to a general ward in mid-April.

Forza Italia was founded by Mr Berlusconi and he remains its leader after serving four terms as president. The party is a junior member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s coalition government but has been in decline in recent years.

Mr Berlusconi’s latter years in power were overshadowed by sex and corruption scandals and he remains a divisive figure in Italian politics.

Earlier this year, he was finally cleared of bribing young showgirls to lie about his notoriously raunchy “bunga bunga” parties.

Mr Berlusconi was elected to Italy’s upper house, the Senate, last September but has repeatedly required hospital treatment and is rarely seen in public.

His recent return to hospital caused concern in Italy and politicians from across the spectrum have wished him well.