Stampa estera

Etrusco, 27/09/2011 22.29:

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How at last my fellow Italians fell out of love with Silvio

Italians are fantasists. Reality’s not good enough for them. In his latest novel, The Pregnant Widow, Martin Amis describes Italy in the eventful early 1970s. Forty years later, it may seem that things haven’t changed. We – Italians – have long been escapists, ruled by the ultimate political escape artist. Silvio Berlusconi is not only our longest serving postwar prime minister; he is also an illusionist, who knows his audience well. But he be may be starting to lose his touch.

Mr Berlusconi built his fortunes on our weaknesses. He is a hyper-populist – a combination of Juan Perón, Vladimir Putin and Frank Sinatra. He can sing, he can act, he can be charming and ruthless, and he knows how to talk to people who prefer face-to-face to Facebook. He told us what we wanted to hear. As details surfaced of his wild parties with young girls who used to call him «Papi”», he explained: «I work hard and in the evening I need to unwind». This is music to many married men’s ears. In her early days, Madonna screamed: «Papa, don’t preach!». Well, Papi Silvio certainly doesn’t and never did.

But a stagnant economy worries voters. Corruption scares away investors. And what does the prime minister do amid the fear, the scorn and the storm? He schemes against his own finance minister, Giulio Tremonti; he juggles four criminal trials, on charges of bribery, tax dodging, embezzlement and patronising an underage woman for sex (he denies any wrongdoing); and he answers phone calls from young women who want favours after attending his «bunga bunga» parties.

Mr Berlusconi has survived countless forecasts of his departure, but his time may finally be up. Emma Marcegaglia, president of Confindustria, the industrialists’ association, which is usually cosy with Italy’s centre-right governments, is furious: «We are fed up with being an international laughing stock - she said -. Across Europe and in America first they condemned us; then they pitied us; now they spur us on, as if to say: ‘Come on! Italy may have its problems, but it can do better than this». This is new. Those who love Italy, and/or do business with us, realise we now need encouragement, not derision, because Italy is currently crossing a treacherous border – perhaps the third and final such crossing, as far as Mr Berlusconi is concerned.

The first border was between complicity and embarrassment. We crossed it in 2009, 15 years after Mr Berlusconi’s first stint in government, with the revelations of the prime minister throwing wild parties in his residences in Rome and Sardinia, with very young girls in attendance. The surprise visit to one of them by Noemi Letizia, on the occasion of her 18th birthday, cost Mr Berlusconi his wife Veronica and also shed light on his unusual personal lifestyle.

The second border divides embarrassment from irritation and shame. In the past two years, Italy has been hit by an avalanche of sleaze. And the prime minister has appeared to be surfing on it, seemingly undaunted. Among many spectacular allegations was a report that he abused his office to cover up his relationship with an underage Moroccan girl, and that he paid her for sex. The impression is that, at this point, many centre-right voters «crossed that border» from feeling embarrassed to irritation and shame. Last spring, local elections in Naples and Milan, Mr Berlusconi’s home town, confirmed this: the prime minister’s candidates were thrashed.

Today Italians stand on the third border, this time between shame and anger. The euro crisis looms large, given that on September 20 Standard & Poor's’ cut Italy’s credit rating by one notch to a single A. The editor of Il Sole 24 Ore recently summarised Italy’s woes, pointing to «the fragility of the government coalition, the embarrassing chain of scandals that directly affect the prime minister, his ministers and their immediate associates, and a persistent inability to take painful but necessary decision».

All of this adds up to a worrying picture, especially as the country celebrates its 150th birthday – twice as many as Mr Berlusconi, who is 75 on Thursday. Eventually, even fantasists must give up their fantasies. The time is surely right for the escape artists to make room for the professionals. This time, at last, I think it is going to happen.

The writer is a political commentator and author of «Mamma mia! Berlusconi’s Italy Explained for Posterity and Friends Abroad»
BEPPE SEVERGNINI 27 settembre 2011 17:43

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.pisicchio., 28/09/2011 01.41:

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Ma guarda se oltre ad avere un Governo come quello che abbiamo dobbiamo pure sorbirci le lezioni di questo babbeo-figlio di papà che parla apertamente dei suoi connazionali come una massa di deficienti.

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