Posted on 10/08/2005 7:42:14 AM PDT by Lessismore
The end of Italy's "Berlusconi Era" may be just over the horizon. With the prime minister's party rapidly losing support and his government fracturing, the media magnate is no longer immune to political attacks. And they are beginning to come fast and furious.
He's just about to stand up. The press conference is over, and everything worth saying has been said. "Thank you, everyone," says Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, as he rises from his chair, looking as though he were already thinking about his next appointment. But then it happens.
"No," says Marco Follini, head of the Christian Democrats, sitting two seats away from Berlusconi. "Just a moment," he says, after switching off his microphone. Berlusconi sits down again. "There are some among us who believe that Berlusconi is the best possible candidate," Follini begins. He wears metal-rimmed glasses and is sometimes likened to Harry Potter. But Follini is bald, and he's no magician.
Berlusconi just sits there, stone-faced. Follini finishes his thought, "Others -- including me -- do not share this belief."
Someone overhears Berlusconi whispering to an aide, "We are accustomed to storms and darkness." But rarely has Italy's strongman been so sharply criticized by a political ally as he was last Thursday in the press room of the Palazzo Chigi. And despite demonstrative attempts to smooth ruffled feathers since then, what's happened has happened. Berlusconi's political career has been declared finished, and the battle to succeed him has begun.
Managing Italy like a subsidiary
Berlusconi has dominated Italy's political landscape for more than a decade. He went into politics as a response to charges brought against him, first for corruption and then for the questionable dealings of his company, Finninvest. And in doing so, he created a new type of political animal: the media mogul and soccer team owner as a prime minister who convinces parliament to pass laws that protect him against criminal prosecution. His television stations and newspapers became his public relations department. His goal was to manage the country like one of his subsidiaries -- from above.
His powerless opponents spent years hoping that sheer opprobrium would finally bring this man down. Their hopes were in vain. Lawsuits and financial scandals seemed to slide off Berlusconi and he was able -- with his wide grin -- to brush aside critique of his, at times, appallingly ridiculous behavior.
Indeed, the only thing a padrone like Berlusconi has to fear is loss of respect among his clientele. No judge can acquit him of bankrupted authority -- when his supporters start abandoning him, not even a fifth or a sixth or a seventh TV channel can save the man. And that -- an erosion of support -- is now exactly what is happening.
In the wake of poor results in April regional elections, which saw his party, Forza Italia, lose in 11 of Italy's 14 regions while the center-left coalition emerged triumphantly, a demonstrative movement to remove Berlusconi began. Mayors of small towns in Umbria are distancing themselves from the prime minister. In Sicily, where Berlusconi captured 60 of 61 mandates in the 2001 parliamentary election, politicians are likewise beginning to seek new alliances. Many are concerned that Italy is suffering under Berlusconi -- since he took office in 2001, Italy has dropped from 26th to 47th place in the World Economic Forum's global competitiveness rankings.
In view of this inexorable shift away from Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister found a certain amount of solace in the recent general elections in Germany. For a man addicted to opinion polls like Berlusconi, Schröder's unexpectedly good result showed that anything is possible. And yet, Berlusconi is in a deeper hole than even the German chancellor was. According to the most recent poll, Forza has lost a third of its supporters, and is now supported by a paltry 18.3 percent of the population.
Expensive watches and pearl necklaces
Some on the political right are becoming impatient. It's time, say some, to call early elections like Schröder did. Or at least hold internal party primaries on Dec. 10 and 11 to resolve the issue of who should be the party's candidate in next year's elections. Anything but the current ennui.
But the race to succeed Berlusconi could be a difficult one. The center-right faces the task of finding a replacement for a man who took a patrician approach to politics. For Berlusconi, any opinion diverging from his own was seen as ingratitude, if not downright betrayal. In his world, all that's needed to create political loyalty in parliament is the handing out of expensive watches or pearl necklaces.
His own party, Forza Italia, is structured as a fan club -- he sees it as an instrument of acquiring power, not of governing. In its twelve years of existence, the party has remained little more than a coterie of henchmen surrounding the "Cavalier," as Berlusconi is nicknamed.
The Christian Democrats (UDC), a junior government party, are now unabashedly taking advantage of the strong man's weaknesses. Party leader Marco Follini and his fellow party member and president of the parliament, Pier Ferdinando Casini, have been playing picking away at Berlusconi for weeks. First one of them says something provocative, which the other attempts to downplay. The next time their roles are reversed. Then one of them demands more government assistance for the south, while the other calls for a new election law. Everything is phrased as an ultimatum and in the tone of someone who has nothing to lose and everything to gain.
What Follini and Casini are trying to do is develop liberal-right alternative. They want it to have close ties to the church and be both economically liberal and pro-Europe. They dream of a resurrection of the old Democrazia Cristiana, the Christian Democratic Party that ruled Italy for half a century before disintegrating in a whirlwind of intrigues and scandals.
Could Fini replace Berlusconi?
The chances of achieving such a renaissance are not half bad. Italy's bishops have rediscovered their taste for politics and are becoming vocally involved in a number of public debates. In contrast, Berlusconi's plan to convert his ruling coalition into a modern democratic party has become increasingly remote. The party -- so goes the plan -- would be run by an administrator while Berlusconi, the "Cavaliere," would withdraw to the presidential palace, the Quirinale, as Pater patriae, where he would be immune against all investigations.
But such a vision is clearly pie-in-the-sky. How, after all, can Berlusconi's fiefdom Forza Italia hope to form a credible, right-of-center force with the thinly veiled post-Fascists of the National Alliance and a separatist group like the Northern League? Their interests are too different if not -- even if they are currently in coalition together -- downright political enemies.
Only the National Alliance has so far kept a low profile, hoping that Berlusconi himself could name the party's leader, Gianfranco Fini, as his successor and representative. It's not an unrealistic hope. Fini, now foreign minister, is a reformed neo-fascist, a man with whom no one would have wanted to be seen in a restaurant only ten years ago. In the meantime, he has transformed himself into the right's most popular politician, and he presumably stands the better chance of winning a duel with aloof opposition leader Romano Prodi.
Not only has the "Cavaliere" lost authority; his administration is also showing clear signs of falling apart. As a protest against "immobilismo," or idleness, Finance Minister Domenico Siniscalco submitted his resignation last week -- right in the middle of consultations over the new budget.
For weeks, Siniscalco was forced to look on as Antonio Fazio, governor of the Bank of Italy, jeopardized the reputation -- already not exactly first-rate -- of the Italian financial system. Berlusconi looked on but did nothing.
Cell phones mean prosperity
Fazio is now under investigation for suspected abuse of power. He has been under fire ever since his alleged illegal intervention in two bank takeovers. In one case, Banca Popolare Italiana and Dutch financial group ABN Amro were competing with one another. Fazio, ignoring the advice of his experts, spoke out in favor of the less liquid Italians and against the potent foreign interloper.
Fazio is a sympathizer of the Opus Dei movement and enjoys a great deal of latitude. Under the statutes of the central bank, he is appointed for life and thus answers to no one.
Because of such escapades, Confindustria, an industry association, has since become one of the Berlusconi administration's sharpest critics. The organization's president, Fiat CEO Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, wastes no opportunity to accuse the prime minister of incompetence. He has also become a big supporter of Casini and Follini.
And the "Cavalier?" What will he do next? Instead of following in Schröder's footsteps, Berlusconi appears to be taking a wait-and-see approach. Sources close to the prime minister say that his only remaining ambition is to be the first prime minister to make it through an entire term.
Berlusconi addressed the Senate last Tuesday evening in Palazzo Madama. He talked about how well Italy is doing, citing the growing number of cell phones as evidence of Italian prosperity. Then he told a joke. "The opposition says that we have taken the country to the brink of disaster," he said. "Now they want us to take a step forward." Berlusconi laughed so heartily that he had trouble finding his place in his speech again.
No one laughed with him. The room remained completely quiet.
Berlusconi has been a good ally. What is Der Spiegel's political leaning? I assume left wing, but don't know for sure.
I have never seen a flattering, optimistic, or upbeat story about Berlusconi in the MSM. He is Europe's "Nixon".
no- he's just a self rightious little musolini that happens to be on your side because that was his only way to cling to power.
he's changed law 3 times to evade conviction
enough said
Major bookmark. Italy, vis Burlesconi, has been a strong ally of the United States for many years. The radical fringe groups have been angling to seize Italy for years now.
Trolls are always so predictable and lacking in imagination.
You, of course, haven't got the slightest idea what "my side" is.
FMCDH(BITS)
Check out 'David's Medienkritik (medienkritik.typepad.com).' Yeah, I'd say Spiegel is a little left-leaning. If not totally out to lunch.
well said! the sooner we get rid of that criminal, the better.
What makes you think so ?
Apparently this porn tax isn't popular with Italian voters. Probably they're upset because the amount of money raised will show the amount spent in a year by Italians on porn. :')FI: Berlusconi Convokes Party Meeting On Electoral Campaign(AGI) - Rome, Italy, Dec. 30 - Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi received the Forza Italia caucus in Palazzo Grazioli today to discuss about the electoral campaign. The meeting lasted several hours. National party coordinator, Sandro Bondi, deputy coordinator, Fabrizio Cicchitto, Lower House and Senate whips Elio Vito and Renato Schifani, Cesare Previti and Senator Lucio Malan took part in the meeting. Senator Malan leaving Grazioli palace told journalists that they talked with Berlusconi about the tasks and the organization of the electoral campaign. They also talked about the communication strategies and the so-called truth operation. Malan excluded that they also talked about the municipal election in Rome. When he was asked if they also talked about the modification of the law on the equal access to the media Malan replied: "No we did not talk about it because the game is over, except for some corrections". Speaking about the possibility to cancel the law with a decree as conjectured by the Daisy coalition's daily Europa today, Malan said that this hypothesis could not be taken as an example.
Italy On Line
Special service by AGIProfile: Silvio BerlusconiThe corruption trial involves claims that he tried to bribe judges to stop a business rival taking over state-owned food group SME in the 1980s.
BBC online
Tuesday, 13 January, 2004
He describes the charge as "fantasy" and says he is the victim of a political campaign by left-wing judges.
Mr Berlusconi has also been embarrassed by the conviction in April of his former personal lawyer, Cesare Previti, for bribing a judge during a takeover battle to favour his Fininvest company.
Over the past two years, many Italians have tolerated, and even admired, some of the more tycoon-like aspects of their leader.
But as many as two-thirds of the electorate were against the immunity law, under which Mr Berlusconi was exempted from trial while he remained in office.Italian Lawmakers to Consider Porn TaxItalians would have to pay a 20 percent tax on pornography according to a budget amendment that cleared a first legislative hurdle, news reports said Thursday... The tax is expected to raise about euro220 million (US$260 million) to help reduce the national deficit and to help fund government tax breaks to families. "I believe the porn tax is important not for moralistic reasons, which don't concern me, but because I think that at a time of difficult economic conditions for families it is right to tax products that are not essential," lawmaker Daniela Santache was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency.
BBC online
7:19 AM PST, December 9, 2005
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