Italy struggles with 'slush funds' In the early nineties, scandals surrounding the illegal funding of political parties destroyed the two parties which had governed Italy uninterruptedly since the end of World War II - the Christian Democrats and the Socialists. It was no secret either that for many years after the war, the US paid millions of dollars to the ruling Christian Democrats in order to help them keep the Communists out of government. In 1999 the Italian parliament voted on a new law financing general and local election expenses. This means that millions of dollars flow into the coffers of the leading political parties at election time. But this does not mean that secret slush funds provided by big business and confidential contributions to political parties by private individuals are a thing of the past.
Italian politicians continue to demonstrate greed - particularly at election time.
And the problem of how to deal with the conflict of interest involving the media magnate Silvio Berlusconi standing for Prime Minister at the April general election has not been resolved. He still remains the majority shareholder in Italy's leading commercial television network despite his political role as opposition leader.