Berlusconi injects glamour into Cabinet,but fears raised over anti-immigrant party(babe offensive)

Times of London ^ | 04/15/08 | Richard Owen

[TigerLikesRooster]

(Gregorio Borgia/AP)
Mara Carfagna, a former model and television presenter, is in line to take over as minister for families

(Luca Bruno/AP) The Northern League, headed by Umberto Bossi, is set for a powerful role in the Berlusconi government

(Danilo Schiavella/EPA) Stefania Prestigiacomo has been appointed to the post of Europe Minister in the Berlusconi government

[WakeUpAndVote]

I'll take two.

[aft_lizard]

Mara Carfagna is a fox, she can be minister of my family any day of the week.

[dfwgator]

[escapefromboston]

She’s got my vote.

[Nonstatist]

Mara Carfagna, a former model and television presenter, is in line to take over as minister for families

She can minister my family, any day of the week.

[Nonstatist]

Crap, missed your comment...:) In any event, I think she makes for a lovely beauracrat.

[KC Burke]

Who will be President of the Italian Senate?

[a freedom-loving italian]

The League brought down the 1994 Berlusconi government by withdrawing from it, but served for a full five-year term as part of Mr Berlusconi's administration between 2001 and 2006.

and that's why "fear over anti-immigration party" has no motivation whatsoever: "Lega Nord" and Berlusconi party share exactly the same values i.e. conservative values. The reason why in 1994 Lega Nord betrayed was that leftist President Scalfaro assured Bossi -the head of Lega Nord- that Berlusconi was finished as prosecutors was soon to put him in jail.

That was a lie, and now Berlusconi is alive and kicking, while his party has 4 times the votes of Lega Nord. So speculations about future Berlusconi government instability are pure BS

[Southack]

I love that you can **feel** the bitterness of defeat coming from the news author.

Berlusconi rocks!

[a freedom-loving italian]

Who will be President of the Italian Senate?

Nobody knows yet but one thing is for sure: both chambers will be headed by Berlusconi supporters.

[definitelynotaliberal]

Speriamo bene.

[definitelynotaliberal]

I loved this line from the article:

Exit polls wrongly indicated that Mr Veltroni, who campaigned with a programme of “change and hope” as “Italy’s Barack Obama”, has caught up and Left and Right were neck and neck, raising the prospect of deadlock.

I can’t wait to see hope and change blown out of the water here as well - not that I am, by any stretch of the imagination, a McCain supporter. I just get tired of hearing some permutation of hope is on the way every 4 years. Hope is already here. It has been here since 1776. We don’t need these self-appointed false prophets and messiahs.

[norton]

Anyone out there have a good interpretation/definition of
"Berluskaiser"?
I'm guessing it ties N. Italy with Germany/Bavaria instead of the boot?

[KC Burke]

Marcello Pera has served in that post and as I understood it was reelected in 2006. Do you think he is a prospect? He is a great thinker and a true Renaissance man of the right.

[norton]

"I can’t wait to see hope and change blown out of the water here as well - not that I am, by any stretch of the imagination, a McCain supporter.
I just get tired of hearing some permutation of hope is on the way every 4 years.
Hope is already here. It has been here since 1776. We don’t need these self-appointed false prophets and messiahs."

Well said.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Mara Carfagna

[definitelynotaliberal]

Grazie.

[a freedom-loving italian]

I also like that guy, but i repeat that no one knows: Berlusconi repeatedly refused to answer questions about future head of chambers and ministers. That's because he did not want to put all his card on the table, and now he just have to discuss this matter with Bossi and other prominent politicians in his party.

Parliament is scheduled to open on March 29, so we just have to wait.

[Paleo Conservative]

The right sure has better looking women.