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Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has left a Milan hospital, six days after intestinal surgery, vowing to keep running for the European Parliament.

The 82-year-old Berlusconi told reporters Monday he feared he had reached the "end of the line. Instead, I made a formidable comeback." Doctors said the media mogul had suffered an intestinal blockage.

Berlusconi said he'd rest up a while and won't lead election rallies but will campaign on TV, radio and other media. He's running for Forza Italia, the party he founded a quarter-century ago.

He blasted Italy's populist government, saying its coalition partners "can only do one thing, squabble." Berlusconi hopes Forza Italia will be a linchpin of a majority center-right alliance in the European Parliament to keep nationalist forces at bay.