Newsgroup: it.politica.ulivo
Titolo: Rassegna australiana su berlusconi - molto equilibrata

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/28/1059244552930.html
The showman cometh
July 29 2003
The Sidney Morning Herald
Silvio Berlusconi's hour has come. The Italian leader's international
stature will depend on his performance as president of the European Union.
Desmond O'Grady writes that it will also be decisive for his struggling
national Government.
The European Union presidency comes at a crowded moment: not only has the
union been enlarged, but its constitution has to be approved, while it also
seeks a higher political profile in the Israel-Palestine issue as well as
greater collaboration among members on foreign policy, terrorism and illegal
immigration.
Most important of all, the union must heal the rift with the United States
caused by the Iraq conflict and decide Europe's new role in a rapidly
changing international order.
As a result of all this, the presidency, in the hands of a statesman, could
acquire a new importance. So far, Silvio Berlusconi has excelled only as a
showman.
His recent two-day visit to President George Bush in Texas was triumphal, if
ambiguous. In the brief concluding press conference on July 21, Berlusconi
did little other than agree with Bush.
Certainly, the Italian leader has never hidden his boundless admiration for
the US and sympathy for Bush, but it is typical of him that he bear hugs
whomever he meets: recently in Israel he declared himself Ariel Sharon's
closest ally, ineluctably a rash claim for a mediator in the Arab-Israel
conflict.
It allowed France to return fire too, with the French Foreign Minister,
Dominique de Villepin, observing that Berlusconi seemed a Bush emissary
rather than a representative of the European Union, an organisation with
decided sympathies with the Palestinian cause.
His European presidency got off to a bad start in the European Parliament on
July 2 when he responded to provocation from Martin Schulz, a German Social
Democrat, by suggesting he would be suitable as a concentration camp
commandant in a film.
That stirred national enmities on all sides but Berlusconi should not be
written off entirely. He desperately wants the glory attached to approval of
the European constitution during his presidency, is a quick learner and will
devote his considerable energy to achieving this.
His Government has abandoned the traditional subservience to the
Franco-German axis but Berlusconi's speech to the European parliament showed
an enthusiasm for a Europe rejuvenated by an ambitious program of public
works such as transport infrastructures.
This is his forte: indicating ambitious goals, infusing confidence and
making spectacular gestures such as calling for enlarging the union to
include Croatia and eventually all the Balkans, Turkey, Israel and Russia.
The six-month term may be ideal for him because he is better at opening up
vistas than actually doing anything.
Such a booster's approach worked for a while in Italy but, almost halfway
through its five-year term, his Government seems threadbare.
At the European Parliament he was insulted as a Mafioso but, despite
accusations against his behaviour before entering politics, in Italy he is
recognised as a democratically elected leader.
Descriptions of him as a potential Mussolini by newspapers outside Italy
also seem exaggerated although he has a worrying concentration of
political-economic and media power. More to the point, he seems ineffective
and his coalition looks increasingly like those of his many weak, squabbling
predecessors.
As the American baseballer Yogi Berra famously once said, it's deja vu all
over again.
This has disappointed those who believed Berlusconi would swiftly modernise
Italy. He had a brief period of prime minister in 1994-5 when, following
judicial investigations which destroyed the corrupt government coalition
parties, the ex-Communists seemed certain to take power.
But, in 100 days, Berlusconi founded his Forza Italia Party, cobbled
together a coalition and won the election. It was a startling exploit and
for the first time in Italian politics produced a centre-right alternative
to the centre-left, even though his coalition split after eight months and
was replaced by a centre-left government.
Many thought that the businessman Berlusconi would abandon politics but he
soldiered on and, against a divided left, won in 2001. He had the aura of
success - television tycoon, the richest man in Italy and president of the
formidable AC Milan soccer club. His breezy, joke-telling style reinforced
the idea that he was not like other politicians.
As an employer he had enjoyed a reputation for generosity. Electors liked
his barnstorming - on television he "signed" a contract with Italians about
what his Government would achieve - during his visit to Texas, he
recommended that Bush do the same at the next election.
On election eve, he promised he would resolve the conflict of interests, due
to his control of all major commercial television channels, within 00 days
of his election. He has not done so nor much else.
Admittedly, the bleak international economic climate damaged his Government
but Berlusconi the booster was slow to recognise the new situation. He has
not been a Thatcher or a Reagan. The centre-left privatised state industries
but so far all Berlusconi has done is sell the state Tuscan cigar producer
to a British company.
His attempt to run the country as if it was one of his businesses has proved
inadequate. He needed to persuade trade unions to reform rigid work
regulations but instead showed contempt which proved counterproductive and
even put off the industrialists.
The idealistic element in the Berlusconi camp thought it could be a
grassroots liberal movement and although Berlusconi proclaims himself a
liberal, his manager style makes him see critics as enemies and refuse
dialogue.
He expects all social forces to enrol in his team. He is certainly far from
any concept of separation or limitation of powers, scornful of parliament
and constantly confuses personal and institutional roles. His ideal seems
partly to be the US, in which money is the measure of worth, where consumers
are valued over citizens and the highest wisdom is to follow opinion polls.
Probably the most surprising aspect of his government has been his
indulgence for its smallest component, the Northern League. Defection by the
Northern League brought down his first government and though he would still
have a majority if it deserted this time, Berlusconi seems frightened by
threats from its abrasive leader, Umberto Bossi. Berlusconi made Bossi, who
once wanted the north to secede, Minister for Institutional Reform.
"Devolution", as the transfer of more power to the regions is called, is an
interesting idea but unfortunately it is in the hands of Bossi whose rabid
language against illegal migrants has made the Government seem a rare
combination of arrogance and ignorance.
Recently, some former coalition partners threatened a crisis because Roberto
Castelli, the Northern Leaguer who is Minister for Justice, questioned
whether magistrates could bring affidavit evidence from America regarding
alleged shady business deals by Berlusconi's Mediaset company. The
subsequent Save Berlusconi law prevented trials against him while he is in
office but not judicial investigations.
So Berlusconi is free of the threat of judicial prosecution and the economic
situation shows a slight improvement. His Government has favoured
spectacular projects such as building a bridge to Sicily, which will take 10
years, but electors are exasperated by the failure to work at humbler tasks
such as small bridges and roads to facilitate traffic.
Polls show that the electorate is now evenly divided and his coalition
partners have nowhere to go without Berlusconi . They will become
increasingly restive if they see association with him cost votes.
With Berlusconi at the wheel, the European Union is attracting more
attention in Italy: previously Italians regarded Brussels as a gravy train,
then the euro arrived with consequent inflation and now their man's arrival
has concentrated their minds. For there, filling at least Italian screens,
is Silvio, president of the union and aiming to outdo the British prime
minister, Tony Blair, as Bush's most faithful friend.
If he manages to be Europe's man as well as America's, Italians might excuse
some of his shortcomings on the home front.
Power base
1936: Silvio Berlusconi born September 29 to a middle-class family in Milan,
northern Italy. He studied law at the University of Milan.
1975: Forms Fininvest which now controls Italy's three private Mediaset
television stations, and Mondadori, the biggest publishing house.
1986: Buys soccer team AC Milan to cement his celebrity status. He is
Italy's richest citizen, worth an estimated $20 billion.
1994: Becomes prime minister; resigns seven months later.
1996: Loses election to Romano Prodi, now president of the European
Commission.
2001: His Forza Italia party forms a coalition to govern after the general
elections.
2003:
May: Berlusconi appears in Milan court at his own trial on corruption
charges relating to business dealings in the 1980s. He asserts that he is
the victim of a conspiracy by a politically motivated judiciary.
June: his trial halted after parliament passes law granting immunity from
prosecution to five holders of key state posts, including the prime
minister.
July: Berlusconi becomes president of the European Community.

Chi l'ha dettata la regina d'inghilterra?