February 1, 2007
The strange charm of Silvio Berlusconi
The news about Silvio Berlusconi this morning made me feel nostalgic. The man is obviously a rogue and a buffoon. But he is fantastically entertaining - as the latest public exchange of letters with his wife illustrates all too clearly.
I got to observe Berlusconi at reasonably close quarters during the Italian presidency of the European Union in 2003. He threw a banquet for journalists in the Villa Madama in Rome - and his display there revealed several of his characterstic qualities: charm, lechery, paranoia.
First, he made sure that all the prettiest female journalists were sitting at his table. I was a little way away, but they seemed to be having a pretty uproarious time. Apparently Berlusca made great play of the fact that there was a magnificent Roman-style bath in the villa, and offered to show it to his guests after dinner. Then he gave a long and rambling speech, whose main argument seemed to be that all his legal problems stemmed from the fact that the press and judiciary in Italy are controlled by Communists. He even claimed to be the most persecuted man in the country, which was an odd take on events - since he was also the richest man, and the prime minister. The Italian diplomats at my table were absolutely cringing and didn’t know where to look. And a German journalist sitting next to me said in shocked tones: "This is a very serious matter. A major European country is in the hands of a lunatic."
Lunatic or not, Berlusconi certainly did not get on very well with the Germans during his six months in charge of the EU. They never really forgave him for comparing a leading German member of the European Parliament to a Nazi concentration camp guard.
The European Commission was also very wary of him. Fair enough, since the Commission at the time was run by his chief political rival, Romano Prodi - who is now the Italian prime minister. Berlusconi had a wonderfully unorthodox way of dealing with this fact. I was told that at a lunch for the Commission in Rome, he dragged aside two members of the Commission - the two prettiest women, naturally - Margot Wallstrom and Anna Diamantopolou. He persuaded them to accompany him into a side-room, and then introduced them to a member of his staff, who specialised in doing impressions of Prodi - their boss. Then, while the impressionist did his routine, Berlusconi sat there with tears of mirth pouring down his face.
But Berlusconi saved his piece de resistance for the final summit of the Italian presidency, where he was charged with bringing the delicate negotiations about the European constitution to a successful conclusion. He started the discussion over lunch with the suggestion that, rather than talk about the constitution, the assembled leaders should discuss women instead. He then turned to Gerhard Schroder, the German prime minister, and suggested that he should begin the discussion because "you’ve been married four times". When a thunder-faced Schroder declined the invitation, the unabashed Berlusconi turned to the German foreign minister, Joshcka Fischer, and said: "How about you, Joschka, you’ve also had four wives." Shortly afterwards, the constitutional negotiations broke up acrimoniously and without reaching a conclusion.
Of course, news of the bantering exchange between Berlusconi and the Germans leaked immediately. Normally discreet diplomats could not wait to rush out and spill all the details. But nobody was quite sure whether Berlusconi had been deliberately bating his German counterparts, or whether he had genuinely been attempting to establish a convivial atmosphere.
Either way, I think these sorts of "gaffes" have been very important to his political success. I’m sure it helps that he is a billionaire and controls much of Italian television. But it must help, that with his gaffes and his womanising, Berlusconi seems like "everyman" and many Italian voters love him for it.
Defining Berlusconi as a buffoon is defitely correct. Your article does not explore whether the behaviour of such a buffoon is what the Italians need because it was not your objective. Unfortunately, the “many” Italians you refer in your article failed to realise that, to get Italy out of the state is in, they do not need an “everyman” but a leader.
Posted by: Corrado | February 1st, 2007 at 1:41 pm | Report this commentI find the article hilarious. Berlusconi is a “buffone”. I wonder if he hired the staff member to cheer him up. And that would be explanatory of how Berlusconi has run the Country in his mandate: self-directed.
As an Italian national living abroad, I felt ashamed when the Media reported our Prime Minister suggesting the German Minister he was a Nazi official. The real problem is that what this brilliant English journalist has vividly described, it is not recognised by half of the Italian population.
I look forward to read about the letters!
Posted by: Giovanni | February 1st, 2007 at 2:03 pm | Report this commentPerhaps most disturbing about what you correctly describe as the attributes of Berlusca, (charm, lechery and paranoia, although I would add an almost impossibly effective and articulate command of language that tugs at the hearts of the Italian public), is that he is seen as credible. He does this by the oldest trick in politics. Triangulation. Or more prosaically, I may be a charming letcherous rogue, but who would you rather have run the country, a rogue who you know is a rogue and is on your side, or some high and mighty intellectual who is only on the side of the elite… (whatever that may be described as) and who will have his hand in your pocket and mess with the good per-benismo of the Italian middle classes. You know that there is honor among thieves right?
And guess what? He has an audience because this is “bedroom” type communication. many people trust him, which say much about the double standards of voters in this country!
Posted by: Philip | February 1st, 2007 at 2:31 pm | Report this commentIt is utterly unacceptable for a whole former prime minister and billionaire by world standards to abuse women. What did he think of his wife?? I wonder what else this man does when he is not in the public limelight??
Posted by: Peter Ondabu | February 1st, 2007 at 3:22 pm | Report this comment. He must be held to account for his utterances….
“Charm” is stretching it. Too far. His antics certainly attract attention. But to qualify as “charm”, they would have to inspire admiration. He, on the other hand, inspires disgust. The man is basically a monkey without a tail.
Posted by: Anon | February 1st, 2007 at 3:38 pm | Report this commentSnr. Silvio Burlesquoni, perhaps?
Posted by: Jonathan L, London | February 1st, 2007 at 3:57 pm | Report this commentIt would be interesting to match Berlusconi up with Edith Cresson for a lunch time discussion on EU politics….
Posted by: Penumbra | February 2nd, 2007 at 9:39 am | Report this commentSnr. Berlusconi may be a corrupt rogue but did he send hundreds of young Italians to their deaths because he wanted to “pay the blood price” to Neocons and the American and Israeli rightwing?
Can Berlusconi be held responsible for up to 650,000 dead Iraqis?
Did Berlusconi lie and cheat to drag his reluctant country to a bloody, unwinnable war and make it the target of revenge attacks?
You asked in an earlier thread if Britain was more corrupt than France. I would tell you that Britain is more corrupt than Italy because several senior Italian politicians were jailed after corruption scandals whereas we know that Blair, Levy etc. are all going to walk free in the cash for honours scandal and the whole thing swept under the carpet.
Now go think about that you condescending limeys!!
Bruno P
Posted by: Bruno | February 2nd, 2007 at 10:14 am | Report this commentBruno,
On behalf of limeys everywhere, please accept our humble apologies for giving unintended offence. Your national pride must be significantly greater than ours.
Posted by: Jonathan L, London | February 2nd, 2007 at 11:21 am | Report this commentHoly moses Bruno, are you seriously suggesting that Italy is less corrupt than Britain. Italy is a country where billions of euros can disappear, where prime ministers consort with the mafia and then go hide in Tunisia, where if you leave your car unattended for one millisecond it gets stolen (presumably by the police), where qualifications to be an MP include willingness to expose breasts (this should be introduced here - except for John Prescott and Anne Widdecombe). I could go on and on. I think you should focus your national pride on our real achievements; for example our cars are biodegradable (they rust away in showers), we are the land of equal opportunities (where else could you collect blindness benefit and be employed as a schoolbus driver…)
Posted by: Cavallo Rampante | February 2nd, 2007 at 2:00 pm | Report this commentO yes and Bruno, you do seem to have forgotten the slightly inconvenient fact that Italy also sent troops to Iraq, against the will of the vast majority of Italians
Posted by: Cavallo Rampante | February 2nd, 2007 at 2:11 pm | Report this commentWhat I found most compelling with this private affair gone very public was the fact that all Berlusconi´s TV and newspapers sit on this explosive news for 8h, waiting for a reaction of their owner they could present in a positive light.
And the public must believe there is no problem with mediaset and other news outlets Owned by a politic leader, their report about his judicial problems or successes as head of state on an international stage have simply to be trust.
Not that we didn´t know, but it was a small satisfaction to see a blatant proof of the contrary.
Sadly, nobody will or can call this scandal in a way convincing enough for awakening his hardcore followers that before to be tifosi, they are citizens in a democracy and should care for what allows such a democracy to work properly.
Posted by: Sig. Bugie delleGambeCorte | February 3rd, 2007 at 9:07 pm | Report this commentYet another excellent entry. I am wondering whether you happen to have some insight in what Berlusconi might be onto now. Thanks.
Posted by: Tomáš Ruta | February 5th, 2007 at 7:41 am | Report this commentIt is not that behaving like a lunatic you resolve a country’s deep rooted problems; or rather, if you happen yourself to “be” the problem how do you deal with it: you self-resolve yourself?
Posted by: Marco | February 5th, 2007 at 8:32 am | Report this commentIf you think identifying yourself with all the ones that sustain you is just enough to strangle a country’s future into a post-Orwellian reality made of - fittingly - reality shows, sycophants rambling for hours, nay, days on end about Berlusca’s basic disrespect of women turning it into a dictatorial triumph, then I think this more dangerous than what Italy has suffered many years back.
Berlusca’s intimidation power is unprecedented, even his wife realised that.
The truth is that the article is very entertaining. Belrusconi is a Medditeranean fellow. Charmer, woman hunter, passionate and also mixes up his work with his free time. Wondering what he was doing when he wasnt in front of a camera… I could assure you for this, nothing different of what he was doing in front of the camera. Unlike of course british members of parliament that they even have male orgies. Precisely in 2004 in Bournemouth, luckily for them my roomates were scared to take photos of te orgies and as such, those people made it out. My point is that the difference between somebody who is genious with somebody who is lunatic is none. Why? Because geniouses and lunatics behave in a way or speak words that nobody else understands. If Bush had the power and brains that Belrusconi has then just these words “Help us God”. Judge those that bring humanity to a lower level e.g. Bush, Blair, Sharon, Bin Landen. Terrorism comes from the word terror =scared, afraid. Bin Landen and Bush have no difference. Belrusconi is none of that. The problem with us human species is that we easily forgive and forget and we become vulnerable to dangerous minds and people that have no fear of god and their lives. It is very tempting feeling unbeatable and powerful enough to destroy everybody. We are humans and humans have weaknesses.
Posted by: Pavlos | February 19th, 2007 at 11:25 am | Report this commentI am surpised that such a gossip-style article on Silvio Berlusconi came from Mr. Rachman, whose political analysis are usually higlhy distinguished.
Posted by: Fabio | February 26th, 2007 at 10:58 am | Report this commentHere is something about Italy from Mr. Rachman! I thought reading the title! I got terribly disappointed… Surely Berlusconi has an extravagant political style, but it is definitively less hypocrite than many other politicians (in Italy as well as in other countries).