Newsgroup: it.media.tv
Titolo: ma che meraviglia!

Silvio Berlusconi
Unfit to lead Europe
May 8th 2003
From The Economist print edition
The Italian prime minister is not the man to speak for the European Union
ON JULY 1st, Italy becomes president of the European Union. It is a
six-monthly handing over of the baton that elicits no excitement at all in
normal circumstances, but these days the circumstances are not quite normal.
Politically, Europe is split. Economically, it is sputtering. The war in
Iraq has lacerated relations with its main ally, the United States. Ten
newcomers are about to join the club and, if the expanded Union is not to
find itself paralysed, agreement must be reached on a new constitution. It
is plainly time for clear-sightedness, diplomatic finesse and the exercise
of the sort of moral authority that comes with ungrudging respect. Can Italy
offer such leadership? Or, rather, can its prime minister, Silvio
Berlusconi?
Our answer is no. Two years ago, when Mr Berlusconi was campaigning for the
Italian prime ministership, we explained why we thought he was unfit for
that job. We argued that, in addition to the many conflicts of interest
between his own businesses and the affairs of state that would arise were he
to be elected, he also had a compelling case to answer on a string of grave
charges. Though Italy's highest criminal court has not definitively
convicted him on any of those charges, he has yet to lay to rest all the
concerns about his probity.
Justice and politics in Italy
May 1st 2003
Why Silvio Berlusconi is still giving Italy a bad name
Jan 17th 2002
Berlusconi: an Italian story
Apr 26th 2001
Fit to run Italy?
Apr 26th 2001
Brussels, Milan
Italy
The European Union
Corruption
Italy is due to become president of the EU. See also Italy's prime minister.
One reason for that is the manner in which the cases against Mr Berlusconi
have been concluded. Most have owed less to clear-cut acquittals based on
the evidence than to Italy's statute of limitations, or to recent changes in
legislation apparently designed to benefit the prime minister as a
defendant. These changes, pushed through a parliament dominated by a
pro-Berlusconi majority, have included a law on judicial co-operation with
foreign jurisdictions (with implications for at least one case against Mr
Berlusconi), a measure to reduce the seriousness of some types of false
accounting by making them civil rather than criminal offences (another three
cases), and a law to let defendants seek to have their trials moved to
another jurisdiction if they have a "legitimate suspicion" that the court
handling their case may be biased (which could be used to spin out a trial
and thus to help defendants benefit from a statute of limitations). This
last law was unsuccessfully invoked by Mr Berlusconi in the one criminal
case that is still outstanding, which explains why he was in court this week
denying accusations of bribing judges back in 1985.
The allure of immunity
That trial will continue for several months, well into the Italian
presidency of the EU and raising the possibility, on the basis of this
week's form, that it will become a battleground between the current prime
minister and one of his predecessors, Romano Prodi, who is now president of
the European Commission. But Mr Berlusconi's allies seem to be more worried
about the possibility of a guilty verdict. Last week one of his closest
friends and political allies, Cesare Previti, was sentenced to 11 years in
jail for corruption. Now there is talk of parliament's passing a law to
grant immunity from criminal prosecution to those with "high state roles".
Such a law might ease the discomfiture of Mr Berlusconi's supporters at
home. It would do nothing for his wider reputation abroad.
Instead, parliament might usefully be turning its attention to Mr
Berlusconi's conflicts of interest. These have been a real or potential
embarrassment since before his first prime ministership nine years ago, and
it seemed incredible that simple decency had not ensured a resolution by the
2001 election. But Mr Berlusconi seems to find it hard to distinguish
between propriety and proprietor. Nearly two years after taking office for
the second time, a promised law to tackle his conflicts of interest has yet
to be enacted. In the meantime, though Mr Berlusconi exercises huge
influence over the state broadcaster, RAI, his family has yet to divest
itself of Italy's three largest private television channels.
Mr Berlusconi says he is the victim of a communist plot (The Economist,
which he is suing for libel, is apparently a part of it), and the judiciary
is biased against him. Some Italian magistrates are no doubt left-wingers;
it would be odd if that were not so, in a country in which political
partisanship has long permeated almost every public institution. But Italy
also has right-wing magistrates, and in any event it is possible to hold
political views and yet dispense impartial justice. If Mr Berlusconi is
indeed the victim of a plot, he needs to show the world his evidence. The
proper way to do that, for a man in his position, is to step down from his
public post and defend himself in court. If and when he has fully cleared
his name, Europeans may feel easier about having him speak for Europe.
ahahahahahahah!!! Umorismo inglese (comunista, naturalmente)
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From The Economist print edition
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