国际英语新闻：Italian PM returns to office after attack, promises reforms

ROME, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi returned to office on Monday after recovering from the attack on Dec. 13, when a protester hit him in the face at a political rally in Milan bringing to his hospitalization for severe injuries.

    Berlusconi expressed optimism and confidence that 2010 will be the year of structural reforms, including the introduction of an important tax legislation aimed at supporting families and workers.

    "I think we can make it especially if all political parties will work towards the same goal," he said, hinting at the fact that the opposition must do its part and collaborate.

    Fans welcomed him back to his Roman villa. Following the attack the prime minister's approval rate rose by more than three percentage points.

Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi smiles as he arrives in his private residence at Grazioli palace in Rome January 11, 2010

On Monday he held a meeting on justice with Justice Minister Angelino Alfano and met President Giorgio Napolitano.

    A top priority in Berlusconi's agenda is changing Italy's judiciary system by shortening trials' duration. The goal, according to the opposition, is to shield Berlusconi from two pending trials which resumed following the high court's repeal in October of a law granting the prime minister immunity from prosecution.

    In one trial, Berlusconi is accused of paying his former British tax adviser David Mills 600,000 U.S. dollars in bribes to give misleading evidence in two corruption trials in the 1990s. On Monday Italy's supreme court set a hearing date of Feb. 25 for Mill's final appeal.

    In the second trial, the prime minister is accused of tax fraud in relation to TV rights purchased by his broadcaster Mediaset during the 1990s.

    If the bill shortening trial duration becomes law and is applied retroactively, Berlusconi's two pending trials would be automatically "timed out."

    On the other hand, were the parliament to stop the bill the government would allegedly present a revised version of the immunity law to pass the high court's scrutiny.

    However, Berlusconi stressed on Monday that the bill was not "a measure for the benefit of himself" but for the benefit of everyone's right to freedom.

    Berlusconi has repeatedly denied all charges against him, alleging he is the victim of a political vendetta waged by "Communist" magistrates and prosecutors.