Newsgroup: it.politica.pds
Titolo: Silvio Berlusconi keeps smiling as sex scandal gets deeper by the day

Silvio Berlusconi keeps smiling as sex scandal gets deeper by the day
Prime minister attempts to carry on as normal despite further revelations
four years of being a lame duck prime minister as a result of the sex 
scandal engulfing him, he was not showing it at the weekend as he went on a 
walkabout in Milan, kissing babies, discussing which AC Milan players he 
might sell and sketching out his political agenda to a crowd of admirers.
"He was talking about what plans he has for 2010; he clearly intends to 
ignore everything, waiting for it to blow over," said Raffaele De Mucci, a 
professor of political science at Luiss University in Rome.
Tom Kington: 'There is distinct unease among many of his allies' Link to 
this audio
It is unlikely that it will blow over by the time the world's leaders arrive 
in Italy next month for the G8 conference. Magistrates in the southern city 
of Bari are pushing on with an investigation into a possible prostitution 
racket and are getting ready to question 30 women, some of whom are 
suspected to have been paid by a local businessman to attend five parties 
held by Berlusconi, La Repubblica reported yesterday.
One of the guests already questioned - model Barbara Montereale - has 
alleged that a paid escort, Patrizia D'Addario, slept with the prime 
minister on 4 November. Yesterday, Montereale released photographs she 
alleges she took as souvenirs in Berlusconi's bathroom and described the 
large number of eastern European women she says she met during a visit to 
his villa in Sardinia.
"They seemed at home, were on familiar terms with the prime minister and all 
called him Papi," she told La Repubblica, adding that she saw the girls 
dressed as Father Christmas in a video shown of an earlier party. "They were 
a bit jealous of each other and in competition to see who could get closer 
[to Berlusconi]."
Berlusconi's troubles with the opposite sex have advanced since May, when he 
fought against accusations of consorting with minors after attending the 
18th birthday party of Noemi Letizia, an aspiring model who called the 
72-year-old "Papi" during private conversations on the phone.
That was enough to push Berlusconi's wife to ask for a divorce. The Bari 
inquiry could go further and rattle the foundations of the Italian 
government, said De Mucci. "The fewer votes Berlusconi got in the EU 
elections, the noisy protests at his recent rallies, all showed a drop in 
his support because of the scandal," he said.
"Now his allies are disoriented, the electorate's faith in the governing 
class will be further weakened and he risks losing the political capital he 
built up with his handling of the Abruzzo earthquake and the Naples rubbish 
crisis."
De Mucci added that he was not surprised by Berlusconi's recent 
denouncements of the number of Chinese living in Prato, near Florence, and 
the number of Africans he saw in Milan.
"The shakier his authority, the more he will lean on the Northern League for 
support," he said, referring to the anti-immigrant party with which 
Berlusconi's Freedom People party is allied. "But I doubt he is on his way 
out. His own party would not continue to exist without him. They would have 
to reinvent itself and I don't see them doing that."
For the Italian opposition, the question is how vulnerable Berlusconi is to 
the girls to whom he has thrown open his doors open. Unsatisfied with being 
named a candidate in local elections for a party in Bari allied to 
Berlusconi, D'Addario revealed all to the Italian press, reportedly telling 
Montereale: "This is our moment; I will make him pay and we will become 
famous like Noemi."
Luigi Zanda, of the opposition Democratic party, said: "Berlusconi has said 
nothing about how blackmailable he is and the government is ignoring the 
question."
Judging by his baby kissing at the weekend, Berlusconi feels the scandal 
will wither. Sandro Bondi, his culture minister, went on the counterattack 
yesterday, saying that La Repubblica, the left-leaning newspaper that has 
kept the prime minister under pressure, was "the largest threat to our 
democracy".
In Rome, the result of the scandal appeared to be an equal stiffening of 
resolve among the Italians who love Berlusconi and those who loathe him.
"He's got skeletons in his cupboard, but scandals don't count here and he 
will stay put for his whole five years," said tobacconist Roberta Canini 
bitterly.
"What scandal?" retorted retired civil servant Eliza Baciocchi at a corner 
bar on the busy Corso Francia. "Berlusconi is a gentleman when it comes to 
the ladies and only magistrates and the left see fit to pry into his private 
life."
Carlo Maschi, a legal assistant, said Berlusconi should be forgiven for his 
behaviour because he was a businessman, not a politician. "Look at how he 
kept Angela Merkel waiting when he was on his cellphone. He is made like 
that and that is fine by me," he said.
It was left to a young women to challenge Berlusconi in Milan. "Ask him 
about the prostitutes," she yelled at the crowd surrounding the prime 
minister, before she was hustled away by police.
guardian.co.uk
 


e questi idioti di giornalisti inglesi,
corrotti e volgari..
erano ciechi ai tempi dei fratelli Kennedy..,
o quelli di carlo-camilla&diana with dodi...?!