Premier and Speaker in shouting match Long-standing differences come to a head at party meeting

(ANSA) - Rome, April 22 - Long-standing differences between Premier Silvio Berlusconi and House Speaker Gianfranco Fini came to a head on Thursday when the two founders of the People of Freedom (PdL) party blew their top in public.Speaking in front of nearly 500 delegates and with TV cameras rolling, the premier gave Fini an ultimatum, telling him he should resign as speaker if he wanted to set up his own faction in parliament and take a more active role in politics."The speaker of the House should not make political statements. If you want to do so, then you should quit," Berlusconi told Fini, who had, until recently, been thought of as his likely successor.At that point, Fini got up and shouted: "What are you saying? Otherwise, what will you do? Throw me out?" Berlusconi opened the meeting with a call for unity, saying that the PdL had won all elections held in the last two years and did not risk being overtaken by its Northern League ally. "You can't say the party is not run democratically," said Berlusconi, rebutting long-simmering charges by Fini and his lieutenants that the PdL is run like a "barracks".The PdL was officially founded last year by the merging of Fini's right-wing National Alliance (AN) and Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI), after the two parties ran on a single ticket to win the April 2008 general elections.The speaker is also fuming over the clout that the Northern League, which snatched two governorships in last month's regional elections, now wields on the government's agenda.Speaking to his followers earlier this week Fini said it was undeniable that the League was "the power player at the moment".Addressing delegates, Fini listed his grievances but stressed that he had never questioned Berlusconi's leadership nor planned to betray him or "row against the government"."But it's childish to sweep the dust under the carpet," he added, outlining a series of requests. He said the PdL must stop being a "photocopy of the League", must allow more room for internal debate and should set up a committee to review planned reforms, including fiscal federalism, one of the League's pet projects.Fini's speech was punctuated by verbal sparring with a very irate Berlusconi who grabbed the microphone several times to interrupt him.Berlusconi shook hands with the speaker but then took the stage again to tell the assembly: "I thought I was dreaming...you've never made these requests before," referring to a working lunch last week when Fini reportedly only told him he was planning to set up his own faction within the PdL.He also took issue with several Fini loyalists, guilty in his view of disgracing the PdL during a row with Berlusconi sympathizers on a TV talk show.After further tit-for-tats with Fini, Berlusconi ended by telling Fini: "your requests are not that important".Fini told reporters later he had "no intention of standing down as speaker".He had already made clear in a meeting with his followers on Tuesday that he had no plans to leave the party but would demand more say and the right to dissent.A document supporting Fini's stance was signed by 36 MPs at the House and 14 senators as well as by an undisclosed number of other MPs unable to attend.However, a statement issued shortly afterwards by 75 ex-members of AN, including Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno, Youth Policy Minister Giorgia Meloni and Public Works Minister Altero Matteoli, said there could be no going back on the decision to merge the two parties."We're firmly convinced that the PdL represents the right and irreversible choice. We want to further strengthen the PdL by remaining in the party." "The party embodies the standards and values of the centre right" and got the majority of votes in general elections in 2008 and the 2009 European and 2010 regional elections, they said.Nevertheless, they urged the PdL to consider a number of issues raised by Fini and ensure "the utmost democracy within the party and respect for every stance". Fini has also made clear that Berlusconi must be allowed to govern till the end of his mandate in 2013 because "that was what Italians decided" at the polls.But, he said, the PdL "must be strengthened and not weakened", that it should make moves to respond to the country's economic needs and spearhead a drive to promote constitutional reforms that should be backed by the centre-left opposition.Fini has publicly distanced himself from the League and Berlusconi on a number of issues since the centre-right coalition swept to power two years ago.His recent and more centrist stances on these issues, including voting rights for immigrants and criticism of the government's reliance on confidence votes to push its bills through parliament, have placed him at loggerheads with many ex-FI MPs as well as the League.Northern League leader Umberto Bossi has told reporters his party is not ruling out the possibility of one of its men becoming premier should Berlusconi step down at the end of his mandate in 2013.