Foreign

FORMER Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been taken to hospital, his party confirmed on Wednesday.

Antonio Tajani, foreign minister and deputy head of Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, confirmed that Berlusconi was conscious and could be contacted.

The 86-year-old is suffering from an infection, Tajani added, speaking on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Brussels.

No further details were initially given by the party or the family of the politician and media entrepreneur.

Earlier the Adnkronos news agency said Berlusconi has been receiving intensive care at the San Raffaele hospital in the northern city of Milan since Wednesday.

The ANSA news agency also reported on the former prime minister’s hospitalization.

Berlusconi was only released from the hospital on Thursday after a four-day stay – officially for routine tests.

According to reports, Berlusconi was already being treated for cardiovascular problems.

According to ANSA, Tajani said that Berlusconi had to go to the hospital again because the problems had not been solved.

According to Adnkronos and ANSA, the foreign minister added that he had not spoken to Berlusconi personally.

The former prime minister has been ill for years.

At the end of 2020 he had Covid and pneumonia, and last year he had to be hospitalised for a urinary tract infection.

In 2016 Berlusconi underwent heart surgery. (dpa/NAN) 

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Tags: Antonio Tajani Silvio Berlusconi