Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi | Vincenzo Pinto/AFP via Getty Images Berlusconi returns to politics with pro-Europe agenda ‘We predict a great victory for the center-right,’ says former Italian prime minister.

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi made his formal return to politics Sunday by laying out a pro-Europe policy platform at a meeting of his party Forza Italia, Reuters reported.

“We predict a great victory for the center-right,” said Berlusconi.

Berlusconi, 81, resigned in 2011 after he lost his parliamentary majority as Italy was sucked into the European debt crisis.

Now, Berlusconi — who has already served nine years as prime minister in total — wants to lead his party into the election, expected by next March, on a pro-Europe agenda of more common defense, foreign, industrial and fiscal policies, as well as continued membership in the euro.

This is despite his alliance with more Euroskeptic parties, the right-wing Northern League and Brothers of Italy. Together, the parties have 35 percent of Italian support, polls show.

Berlusconi is currently barred from public office until 2019 due to a tax fraud conviction, but he has appealed the ruling to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg with a hearing set for November.

“I expect that Europe completely restores my honor ... But court or no court, I promise you that I will take part in the election campaign,” he said.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misstated the timeline of Berlusconi’s European Court of Human Rights case. The court hearing is on November 22.