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<\/a><\/p>\nBy Elvira Pollina and Emilio Parodi<\/p>\n
MILAN (Reuters) -Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is “better than he was”, his friend Fedele Confalonieri said on Friday after visiting him in hospital, where he is being treated for a lung infection caused by chronic leukaemia.<\/p>\n
The 86-year-old billionaire media tycoon was rushed to Milan’s San Raffaele hospital on Wednesday, triggering speculation that his life might be in danger and drawing a stream of family and friends to his bedside.<\/p>\n
His doctors said on Thursday that had been suffering from leukaemia “for some time” and that he had recently developed a pulmonary infection.<\/p>\n
Confalonieri, who has worked in Berlusconi’s business empire for decades, visited him for a second day running. Asked afterwards if he was optimistic, he replied: “Yes”.<\/p>\n
All five of Berlusconi’s children also went to the hospital in the afternoon to see him. None of them talked to waiting reporters, but his youngest son Luigi gave a thumbs-up as he left the building.<\/p>\n
Another friend, the editor of Il Giornale newspaper Augusto Minzolini, wrote on Friday that Berlusconi had reassured him in a phone call that he would recover. “‘It\u00b4s hard, but I’ll pull through once again’,” Minzolini quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n
Well-wishers have gathered outside the Milan hospital to show their support, including 90-year-old Ruggiero Sutto, who said he was suffering from the same sort of blood cancer.<\/p>\n
“These things are normal at a certain age,” he told Reuters. “I’m sure he’ll make it because he’s a strong man, and because he’s the best prime minister we’ve had in Italy. If they were all like him, Italy would have become a great country.”<\/p>\n
A friend of Berlusconi, Vittorio Sgarbi, said before he went into hospital the two had discussed his future. “There will now be a historic transition. Berlusconi will focus more on his family than on politics,” Sgarbi told Rai Radio.<\/p>\n
Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party is part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition, although he does not have a direct role in her government. <\/p>\n
He has not designated an heir to take his place at the helm of the party and it was far from clear if the group could hold together without his oversight.<\/p>\n
(Additional reporting by Gianluca Semeraro and Antonio Denti; Writing by Crispian Balmer; editing by Gavin Jones, Mark Heinrich and Barbara Lewis)<\/p>\n
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