14th January, 2021
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been urgently admitted to hospital in Monaco because of heart problems, a spokesman and his doctor said on Thursday.
The 84-year-old media tycoon, infamous for his ‘bunga bunga’ sex parties, ‘is at the Cardiothoracic Hospital in Monaco for tests.’
‘He will return home within a few days’, his spokesman told AFP news agency.
Berlusconi’s personal doctor Alberto Zangrillo said he saw Berlusconi on Monday and decided to transfer him to a nearby hospital because he did not think it prudent to bring him to Italy, which is some 15 km (10 miles) from the small city-state.
Italy’s ANSA news agency first reported the news. It was not immediately clear if the health emergency had been overcome.
The 84-year-old media tycoon underwent major heart surgery in 2016 and has also survived prostate cancer.
Last September he was hospitalized after contracting coronavirus. He later told reporters that the virus had posed “the most dangerous challenge” of his life.
Berlusconi has spent much of his time recuperating at his daughter Marina’s house in Provence, southeast France.
Shares in Mediaset, the broadcaster controlled by the Berlusconi family, jumped as much as 2.9% on Thursday after initial reports of his latest health scare.
Traders cited speculation about potential ownership changes at the group if Berlusconi’s condition worsened.
Mediaset has been at the center of a legal battle between Berlusconi’s family holding Fininvest and its second-largest shareholder, French media giant Vivendi, over the past five years.
Berlusconi also remains head of the opposition Forza Italia party. His illness comes as Italy has been hit by political chaos after a junior coalition party quit the government, depriving it of a majority in parliament.
Newspapers have speculated that some Forza Italia lawmakers might agree to desert party ranks and help prop up Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to prevent early elections.
Reporting by Elvira Pollina and Emilio Parodi; Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Hugh Lawson
Reuters/NAN