Billionaire Berlusconi Wins Italian Elections
By Mara Palermo
Bronx Journal Staff Writer
Silvio Berlusconi, the eccentric billionaire who has dominated Italy’s political life since 1994, was elected to a third term as Prime Minister on April 14, 2008. Voters turned out in high numbers, but with little enthusiasm, as they elected their 62nd government in the 63 years since the end of World War II.
A cordial moment between former rivals Walter Veltroni and Silvo Berlusconi
Berlusconi, 71, owner of media and sports businesses, has survived several prosecutions, a conflict of interests between his media empire and his political career and lack of correctness in public discourse. How many aspiring prime ministers would refer to older female supporters as their “menopause section”? How many would say that magistrates should be subject to mental-health checks?
Why did Italians choose conservative Berlusconi for a third time? Berlusconi’s success lies mainly on his grip on Italy’s media. His ownership of Mediaset, the most important private TV network in Italy, has been criticized worldwide by press freedom organizations. Through his media empire, he controls three of the seven Italian TV channels, and as a Prime Minister he also indirectly controls RAI, the three state-run TV channels.
The dissatisfaction with the left was also sufficient to obscure memories of the faults of previous Berlusconi’s administrations, plagued with corruption allegations and partly responsible for Italy’s current economic decline.
Even if the previous government led by Romano Prodi’s center-left coalition repaired Italy’s disastrous public finances, voters did not forgive its tax increase. Walter Veltroni, Prodi’s successor as centre-left leader, could not convince Italians that he was going to represent a new kind of politics. Veltroni is 52 and a novelty in a country governed by aged men. He frequently cites Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King and considers them as his political heroes. He also regards himself as Italy’s Barack Obama. However, Veltroni seems to lack Obama’s rethorical skills and his campaign never gained momentum.
Berlusconi’s new government faces an economic recession and a nation frustrated over political gridlock blamed on the electoral law that he himself created towards the end of his second premiership in 2005. Paradoxically, this electoral system, which generated Prodi’s weak nine-party coalition, has produced something similar to a two-party legislature familiar in the United States and Britain. Many small parties that held the balance of power in previous governments have disappeared, generating a parliament with only two contrasting blocks led by Berlusconi and Veltroni. Berlusconi’s coalition includes his People of Freedom (formed by Forza Italia and the post-fascist party National Alliance), the xenophobic Northern League and the small Movement for Autonomy, which is seeking greater autonomy for Sicily. Veltroni’s alliance instead comprises his newly formed Democratic Party and the anti-corruption party called Italy of Values.
Strangely for Italy, the People of Freedom movement and its allies have an unusual and solid majority in both chambers of the legislature. Therefore, the new government has all the control to tackle Italy’s many problems.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Italy has the slowest-growing economy and one of the lowest Gross Domestic Product per capita within the European Union. Economic crisis have persisted under governments of left and right alike. None has been bold enough to push through liberalising structural reforms to raise growth and productivity.
International watchdogs consider Italy as one of the most heavily regulated of all rich countries. Trade unions and special interest groups constantly oppose any kind of reform. Infrastructures are crumbling, investments are poor and inflation is higher than the rest of Europe. Services are under-developed. Public administration is inefficient and corrupt, especially in the south, the latest evidence being the garbage mountains scattered throughout the Naples region.
Education is worse than anywhere else in Europe with none of Italy’s universities in the world’s top 100. The entire system seems to be run for the benefit of academics. In 1970, 30 percent of university professors were over 45; today they are 70 percent. Even in tourism, Italy has fallen from first to fifth most popular destination in the world.
The new government has a good opportunity to push for all necessary reforms. Yet Berlusconi gives contradictory signals. His past administrations did not do anything to shake up Italy’s protected businesses and during the latest electoral campaign, his messages were still confusing. Some of his rhetoric was liberal. He promised spending cuts, lower taxes and public asset sales. Yet, he also spoke as a nationalist. Berlusconi’s plan to save the money-losing flagship airline Alitalia shows that he wants to save it at all costs, even if inefficient, instead of letting the market decide its fate. He says that Europe needs to regain influence in the world, but he opposes the economic parameters that the European Union imposes on Euro-zone interest rates, fiscal policy or competition. Berlusconi and his partners blame globalization, the Euro, the European Union, and the European Central Bank for Italy’s problems instead of admitting that its malaise originates within its territory.
Not surprisingly, it is an analysis of the country’s political panorama that makes one wonder about the state of the Italian democracy. Italy is a country with a prime minister who has been on trial on criminal charges as serious as corrupting judges, while passing laws ad personam to promote his own businesses and legal interests. The latest one trial was recently put on hold by the court in Milan, which upheld a defence request to freeze the trial until after the elections. The trial concerns alleged fraud at Berlusconi’s company Mediaset. He and his lawyers, who are also running for office, believe the trial could have damaged their campaign.
In the early 1990s, when Berlusconi founded the Forza Italia Party, veteran journalist Enzo Biagi asked him why he was running for office. Berlusconi said, because “they want me to go bankrupt and end up in jail.” At that time, his company Fininvest was in serious debt, the courts in Milan and Palermo were investigating him and his associates for alleged corruption and Mafia association, and his political protectors had been destroyed by Tangentopoli (“Bribesville”) corruption scandals. The center left could have passed conflict of interest laws that would have stopped him from running for a third term. It could have also reversed all judicial and procedural laws that Berlusconi passed to help him avoid conviction in the many court cases that Italy’s magistrates have brought against him.
Instead, he is back stronger than ever. His businesses are out of debt and his personal finances put him at the top of Forbes’ list of the richest men in the world.
In the meantime, the country is economically and morally stalled. Disproportionate and confusing regulations create constant opportunities for the arbitrary use of power. Crushing red tape undermines both individual liberty and public interest. The lack of economic freedom leads to more opportunities for corruption. It deters investments, creates mistrust among people and alienates them from the institutions. Less and better regulation could boost economic growth and finally give the country a new beginning. However, in a time of new beginning, the only thing that seems to stand in the way is the same old Italian politics.
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Originally Published Spring 2008