Berlusconi says ready for EU vote after "big fright" of emergency surgery

ROME (Reuters) - Four-time Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, 82, said on Monday he was ready to resume all electoral engagements after undergoing emergency surgery last week for a bowel obstruction that made him fear for his life.

“I'm fine, I got a big fright. A number of things that happened made me worry I was at the end of my ride, but then I had a formidable recovery,” Berlusconi told reporters as he was discharged from Milan's San Raffaele hospital.

The media tycoon and leader of the conservative Forza Italia (Go Italy!) party was taken to hospital on April 30 and operated on the same day.

Berlusconi, who was forced to step down as prime minister in 2011 at the height of the euro zone crisis, is running in this month's European parliament election after the lifting of a ban that prevented him from holding office due to a tax fraud conviction.