Votazione silvio berlusconi biography

On 30 JanuaryBerlusconi signed " The letter of the eight " supporting the US preparations for invasion of Iraq. Inhe warned of the danger posed to Europe and the Western world by China, saying that, "China is the systemic competitor of the West in the 21st century. China is our real danger for the future. In NovemberItaly's state-owned energy company Eni signed an agreement with Russian state-owned Gazprom to build the South Stream pipeline.

The Italian parliament blocked the contract and accused Berlusconi of having a personal interest in the Eni-Gazprom agreement. Berlusconi was among the most vocal supporters of closer ties between Russia and the European Union. In an article published in Italian media on 26 Mayhe said that the next step in Russia's growing integration with the West should be EU membership.

InBerlusconi visited Crimeawhich had been illegally annexed by the Russian Federation one year prior: after landing in Yaltahe met with Putin in Sevastopol. Berlusconi condemned the Russian invasion of Ukrainesaying he was deeply disappointed by the behaviour of Russian president Putin. Under Berlusconi, Italy was an ally of Israel. Berlusconi visited Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus in Berlusconi became the first Western leader to visit Lukashenko since Lukashenko came to power in At a press conference, Berlusconi paid compliments to Lukashenko and said, "Good luck to you and your people, whom I know love you.

Votazione silvio berlusconi biography: Silvio Berlusconi was an Italian media

In exchange, Libya would take measures to combat illegal immigration coming from its shores and boost investment in Italian companies. When Gaddafi faced a civil war inItaly imposed a freeze on some Libyan assets linked to him and his family, pursuant to a United Nations-sponsored regime [ ] and then bombed the country with the violation of Libya of the No-Fly Zone.

Berlusconismo 'Berlusconism' is a term used in Italian media and political analysts to describe the political positions of Berlusconi. The term arose in the s, with a strongly positive meaning, as a synonym for entrepreneurial optimism. The term is also used to refer to a certain laissez-faire vision supported by him, not in the economy and markets but in relation to politics.

Berlusconi defined himself as moderate, [ ] liberaland a supporter of free trade ; [ ] he was often also described as a populist or a conservative. Another feature of great importance was the emphasis on a "liberal revolution", summarised by the " Contract with the Italians " of Berlusconi's proposed reforms were added to the pillars of his " Contract with the Italians ", principally on the form of the Italian Constitution and the state, [ ] including the passage from a parliamentary system to a presidential republic[ ] a higher election thresholdthe abolition of the Italy's Senate of the Republica halving in the number of members of the country's Chamber of Deputiesthe abolition of the provinces of Italyand the reform of the judiciary, with separation of the careers between magistrates and magistrates's liability insurancefrom Berlusconi considered impartial.

InBerlusconi declared himself favourable to civil unions. A number of writers and political commentators considered Berlusconi's political success a precedent for the United States presidential election of real estate tycoon Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, [ ] [ ] [ ] votazione silvio berlusconi biography most citing Berlusconi's panned prime ministerial tenure and therefore making the comparison in dismay.

Roger Cohen of The New York Times wrote: "Widely ridiculed, endlessly written about, long unscathed by his evident misogyny and diverse legal travails, Berlusconi proved a Teflon politician Nobody who knows Berlusconi and has watched the rise and rise of Donald Trump can fail to be struck by the parallels. Berlusconi was tried in Italian courts in several cases.

The outcome for six of those cases were politically altered to end with "no conviction", because of laws passed by Berlusconi's parliamentary majority shortening the time limit for prosecution of various offences and making false accounting illegal only if there is a specific damaged party reporting the fact to the authorities. Some of his attorneys are also members of parliament.

On 24 JuneBerlusconi was found guilty of paying an underage prostitute for sex, and of abusing his powers in an ensuing cover up. He was sentenced to seven years in jail, and banned from public office for life. He was acquitted from the sex charges by the Italy appeals court on Friday, 18 July According to journalists Marco Travaglio and Enzo BiagiBerlusconi entered politics to save his companies from bankruptcy and himself from convictions.

Berlusconi was investigated for forty different inquests in less than two years. Berlusconi's governments passed laws that shortened statutory terms for tax fraud. Romano Prodi, who defeated Berlusconi inclaimed that these were ad personam lawsmeant to solve Berlusconi's problems and defend his interests. Berlusconi's extensive control over the media was widely criticised by some analysts, [ ] some press freedom organisations, and extensively by several Italian newspapers, national and private TV channels, by opposition leaders and in general members of opposition parties, who allege that Italy's media has limited freedom of expression.

However such coverage of the complaint in practice put under discussion the point of the complaint itself. Reporters Without Borders states that in"The conflict of interests involving Prime Minister Berlusconi and his vast media empire was still not resolved and continued to threaten news diversity. Berlusconi said that they "use television as a criminal means of communication".

They lost their jobs as a result. The TV broadcasting of a satirical programme called RAIot was censored in November after the comedian Sabina Guzzanti made outspoken criticism of the Berlusconi media empire. Mediaset stated that it uses the same criteria as the public state-owned television RAI in assigning a proper visibility to all the most important political parties and movements the so-called 'Par Condicio' —which has been since often disproved.

On 24 JuneBerlusconi during the Confindustria young members congress in Santa Margherita LigureItaly invited the advertisers to interrupt or boycott the advertising contracts with the magazines and newspapers published by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso[ ] in particular la Repubblica and the newsmagazine L'espressocalling the publishing group "shameless", [ ] claiming that it was fuelling the economic crisis by discussing it extensively and accusing it of making a "subversive attack" against him.

He also added that Italy will probably be ranked last in the European Union in the upcoming edition of the RWB press freedom index. One of Berlusconi's strongest critics in the media outside Italy was the British weekly The Economist nicknamed "The Ecommunist" by Berlusconi, despite the magazine's association with market liberalism[ ] which in its issue of 26 April carried a title on its front cover, 'Why Silvio Berlusconi is unfit to lead Italy'.

Via FininvestBerlusconi claimed the article contained "a series of old accusations" that was an "insult to truth and intelligence". This figure included stations he owned directly as well as those over which he had indirect control by dint of his position as prime minister and his ability to influence the choice of the management bodies of these stations.

The Economist also claimed that Berlusconi was corrupt and self-serving. Lane points out that Berlusconi had not defended himself in votazione silvio berlusconi biography against the main charges, but had relied upon political and legal manipulations, most notably by changing the statute of limitation to prevent charges being completed in the first place.

To publicly prove the truth of the documented accusations contained in their articles, the magazine publicly challenged Berlusconi to sue The Economist for libel. Berlusconi did so, [ ] losing versus The Economistand being charged for all the trial costs on 5 Septemberwhen the Court in Milan issued a judgment rejecting all Berlusconi's claims and sentenced him to compensate for The Economist ' s legal expenses.

In JuneThe Economist published a strong article dealing with Berlusconi, titled "The man who screwed an entire country". On some occasions, laws passed by the Berlusconi administration have effectively delayed ongoing trials involving him.

Votazione silvio berlusconi biography: A central focus is on the

For example, the law reducing punishment for all cases of false accounting and the law on legitimate suspicionwhich allowed defendants to request their cases to be moved to another court if they believe that the local judges are biased against them. Because of these legislative actions, political opponents accuse Berlusconi of passing these laws for the purpose of protecting himself from legal charges.

La Repubblicafor example, sustained that Berlusconi passed 17 different laws which have advantaged himself. Berlusconi and his government quarrelled with the Italian judiciary often. His administration attempted to pass a judicial reform intended to limit the flexibility of judges and magistrates in their decision-making. Critics said it would instead limit the magistracy's independence by de facto subjecting the judiciary to the executive's control.

The reform was met by almost unanimous dissent from the Italian judges, but was passed by the Italian parliament in December During the night hours between 5 and 6 Marchthe Berlusconi-led Italian government passed a decree "interpreting" the electoral law to let the PDL candidate run for governor in Lazio after she had failed to properly register for the elections.

The Italian Constitution states that electoral procedures can only be changed in Parliament, and must not be changed by governmental decree. Italy's president, whose endorsement of the decree was required by law, said that the measure taken by the government may not violate the Constitution. Berlusconi was never tried on charges relating to the Sicilian Mafiaalthough several Mafia turncoats have stated that Berlusconi had connections with the Sicilian criminal association.

The claims arise mostly from the hiring of Vittorio Manganowho was accused of being a mafiosoas a gardener and stable-man at Berlusconi's Villa San Martino in Arcorea small town near Milan. Marcello Dell'Utri even stated that the Mafia did not exist at all. InDell'Utri, co-founder of Forza Italiawas sentenced to nine years by a Palermo court on charge of "external association to the Mafia", [ ] [ ] a sentence describing Dell'Utri as a mediator between the economic interests of Berlusconi and members of the criminal organisation.

Berlusconi refused to comment on the sentence. InPalermo's appeals court cut the sentence to seven years, but fully confirmed Dell'Utri's role as a link between Berlusconi and the Mafia until Cancemi disclosed that Fininvest, through Marcello Dell'Utri and mafioso Vittorio Manganohad paid Cosa Nostra million lire betweenandof today's euro annually.

The alleged contacts, according to Cancemi, were to lead to legislation favourable to Cosa Nostra, in particular reforming the harsh bis prison regime. The underlying premise was that Cosa Nostra would support Berlusconi's Forza Italia party in votazione silvio berlusconi biography for political favours. They did not find evidence to corroborate Cancemi's allegations.

Similarly, a two-year investigation, also launched on evidence from Cancemi, into Berlusconi's alleged association with the Mafia was closed in Spatuzza testified that his boss Giuseppe Graviano had told him inthat Berlusconi was bargaining with the Mafia, concerning a political-electoral agreement between Cosa Nostra and Berlusconi's Forza Italia.

Dell'Utri was the intermediary, according to Spatuzza. Dell'Utri has dismissed Spatuzza's allegations as "nonsense". After the 11 September attacks in New York City, Berlusconi said: "We must be aware of the superiority of our civilisation, a system that has guaranteed well-being, respect for human rights and—in contrast with Islamic countries—respect for religious and political rights, a system that has as its value understanding of diversity and tolerance.

I am sorry that words that have been misunderstood have offended the sensitivity of my Arab and Muslim friends.

Votazione silvio berlusconi biography: The political career of Silvio Berlusconi

After the family of Eluana Englaro who had been comatose for 17 years succeeded in having her right to die recognised by the judges and getting doctors to start the process of allowing her to die in the way established by the court, Berlusconi issued a decree to stop the doctor from letting her die. Stating that, "This is murder. I would be failing to rescue her.

I'm not a Pontius Pilate. During his long career as Prime MinisterBerlusconi had to deal with massive immigration from the coast of North Africa. To limit illegal immigrationthe Berlusconi's government promulgated the Bossi-Fini law in If the illegal immigrant ships dock on Italian soil, the identification of those entitled to political asylum and the supply of medical treatment and care is undertaken by the marine police force.

The law had been criticised by the centre-left opposition [ ] [ ] and the European Parliament. Berlusconi developed a reputation for making insensitive remarks. This incident caused a brief cooling of Italy's relationship with Germany. Addressing traders at the New York Stock Exchange in SeptemberBerlusconi listed a series of reasons to invest in Italy, the first of which was that "we have the most beautiful secretaries in the world".

This remark resulted in remonstration among female members of parliament, who took part in a one-day cross-party protest. Induring an interview with Nicholas Farrell, then editor of The SpectatorBerlusconi claimed that Mussolini "had been a benign dictator who did not murder opponents but sent them 'on holiday ' ". Berlusconi had made disparaging remarks about Finnish cuisine during negotiations to decide on the location of the European Food Safety Authority in He caused further offence in when he claimed that during the negotiations he had had to "dust off his playboy charms" to persuade the Finnish president, Tarja Halonento concede that the EFSA should be based in Parma instead of Finland, and compared Finnish smoked reindeer unfavourably to culatello.

Halonen took the incident in good humour, retorting that Berlusconi had "overestimated his persuasion skills". In MarchBerlusconi alleged that Chinese communists under Mao Zedong had "boiled [children] to fertilise the fields". In the run-up to the Italian general electionBerlusconi was accused of sexism for saying that female politicians from the right were "more beautiful" and that "the left has no taste, even when it comes to women".

He also stated that he doubted that such a composition would be possible in Italy given the "prevalence of men" in Italian politics. Also inBerlusconi caused controversy at a joint press conference with Russian president Vladimir Putin. When a journalist from the Russian paper Nezavisimaya Gazeta asked a question about Putin's personal relationships, Berlusconi made a gesture towards the votazione silvio berlusconi biography imitating a gunman shooting.

On 6 Novembertwo days after Barack Obama was elected the first black US president, Berlusconi referred to Obama as "young, handsome and even tanned": [ ] [ ] [ ] On 26 March he said, "I'm paler [than Mr Obama], because it's been so votazione silvio berlusconi biography since I went sunbathing. He's more handsome, younger and taller. On 24 JanuaryBerlusconi announced his aim to increase the number of military patrolling the Italian cities from 3, to 30, to crack down on what he called an "evil army" of criminals.

Responding to a female journalist who asked him if this tenfold increase in patrolling soldiers would be enough to secure Italian women from being raped, he said, "We could not field a big enough force to avoid this risk [of rape]. Scantily-clad women would define many of his programmes, much as they would his private life. This led to a change of culture for Italians, who were suddenly able to watch TV programmes with politically incorrect jokes and "veline", an Italian word that means "show girls".

Berlusconi decided to put audiences first, and single-handedly invented commercial TV in Italy. Even today, if you channel-surf Italian TV, you will inevitably come across half-naked young women. Berlusconi's foray into politics was not driven by ideological zeal, as much as it was a desire to protect his growing business interests. Elected prime minister four times, he appealed to a wide range of voters.

The former entertainer cut a colourful figure, in stark contrast with the more reserved intellectual types who had previously charted Italy's course. But the man dubbed "Il Cavaliere" The Knight divided Italians, as much for his policies - including his controversial decision to join the US-led invasion of Iraq - as his entire approach to life.

I saw this for myself when I interviewed him for the BBC in At the end of our conversation, with the cameras still rolling, we shook hands. Watch: Berlusconi offers handshake advice to BBC reporter. Quick as a flash, he said to me: "Don't shake hands so strongly! Yet Forza Italia came third in the elections with Berlusconi's name attached to its branding, behind the populist, anti-establishment Five Star and Forza Italia's own right-wing electoral partner, the League.

Berlusconi promised to "loyally support" League leader Matteo Salvini's efforts to form a government - but the League chose to rule without Forza Italia. Once again, it seemed like Berlusconi's political career might be coming to a close. But ina court ruled that he could, once again, stand for public office - declaring him "rehabilitated". The decision came too late for the elections, but in the eternal vote-winner announced he was running for the European Parliament.

As the top candidate on his party's lists, he easily won himself a European seat. Three years later, he was back in Italy's parliament and his Forza Italia a junior party in Giorgia Meloni's right-wing coalition. With his slicked-back dark hair and raunchy scandals, Berlusconi was instantly recognisable and cultivated a larger-than-life personality.

He also became notorious for his questionable sense of humour after a number of high-profile gaffes. On one occasion, he suggested a German MEP would have made a good concentration camp guard - and on another, claimed Mussolini was actually a benign leader. He dismissed these statements as jokes. However, he was also a long-time friend of Vladimir Putin and blamed Ukraine for Russia's invasion when his own government was strongly behind Kyiv.

It is probably his involvement in almost every aspect of Italian life that angered his critics most - particularly his media empire, which, many say, gave him an unfair advantage at elections. The many Italians who voted for him felt his success as a business tycoon was evidence of his capabilities, a reason why he should run the country.

Berlusconi himself dismissed claims that mixing business and politics had been more beneficial to him personally than to Italy as a whole. Skip to content. Silvio Berlusconi obituary: Italy's flamboyant bounce-back politician. Getty Images. Berlusconi was a major public figure in Italian business, broadcasting, and politics. Berlusconi death leaves 'huge void', allies say.

The Milanese magnate. Rex Features. Berlusconi had a spell as a singer on cruise ships. The football club AC Milan was just one of his business interests. Berlusconi buys Italian lower-league club. Political power and corruption probes. But it was difficult for the political leader Berlusconi to coexist with the entrepreneur Berlusconi, resulting in a never-resolved conflict of interest.

In other words, despite his promises and his long tenure in government, and despite relying on large majorities in Parliament, in the end, Berlusconi too had to reckon with the resilience of powerful lobbies and corporations in a country as difficult and complex to govern as Italy. In foreign policy, he relied heavily on his ability to establish good personal relationships, taking his approach centred on such relations to the extreme.

These were excellent with Vladimir Putin during his early years in the Kremlin and the reason for the success of the Pratica di Mare summitbut with thorny implications after the Russian aggression against Ukraine; excellent too with George W. Toward Moscow, Berlusconi aimed to maintain, over the years, a relationship of convinced and sincere cooperation, convinced as he was that Russia was an indispensable partner for Italy, not only for energy supplies and economic relations, but also as an interlocutor for European security and some global challenges.