This week Francesco Cossiga, a former Christian Democratic president who has just founded his own party, attacked Mr Fini for his fascist past.

ECONOMIST: Fini��s nice new suit

And a former president of Italy, Francesco Cossiga, with the same purpose in mind, launched a brand-new centre-right party, which has attracted about 50 members of parliament (but has promptly run into problems with its leader).

ECONOMIST: Italy

As former Italian President Francesco Cossiga first exposed in a letter to Corriere della Serra in August 2008, in the early 1970s then Italian prime minister Aldo Moro signed a deal with Yassir Arafat that gave the PLO and its affiliated organizations the freedom to operate terror bases in Italy.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Hamas rises in the West