Italy’s furbissimo ladrone aka Silvio Berlusconi (September 9, 1936 – June 12, 2023) got a state funeral today. He was one of Italy’s richest men. He died a multi-billionaire. Furthermore, as the first person ever, he managed to become prime minister without having held a political office beforehand. With a total of nine years in office, he even became Italy’s longest serving post-war prime minister, in a country notorious for it’s political instability. However, he did not really offer Italy stability but rather financial, economic, political, social, moral stagnation and even decline.
Present at Berlusconi’s funeral at Milan’s Cathedral (Duomo di Milano) where Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Gleich zu gleich gesellt sich gern, as we say in German. Berlusconi liked strongmen such as Orban and Putin, who could not attend because he would have been arrested.
Italy has a long history of public debt problems. 2011 was marked by financial problems. Public debt stood at 120% of GDP. Already in July, Berlusconi’s days seemed to be numbered because the spread between Italian BTP bonds (multiyear Treasury bonds – Buoni del Tesoro Polianuali) and German bonds remained substantial. Despite an austerity budget, markets had lost confidence in Berlusconi and his government. Nevertheless, he held on to power until November. In the end, even Berlusconi’s party People of Freedom was in support of Mario Monti as Italy’s next prime minister. The media mogul and business tycoon turned politician had lost his parliamentary majority.
Under Berlusconi, Italians were not highly indebted personally and the country did not witness a real-estate bubble. But the economy was stagnating. The Italians’ favorite pastime was to go on strike. The country had a tax evasion problem because taxes were far too hight. This led to a large shadow economy with people not paying taxes. In addition, the country had a multi-billion dollar Mafia economy. Most of this holds true even today.
In short, Silvio Berlusconi was toppled because, despite his grandiose rhetoric, he had never delivered for Italy. His main goal had always been to protect his own business interests and, as prime minister, to enjoy immunity. His successor Mario Monti seemed to offer the seriousness Italy, the EU and the markets were looking for.
In the 1970s, Silvio Berlusconi’s business career began with a huge real estate development near Milan called Milano Due. It remains unclear where the money for the some 4,000 residential apartments came from. Was this shadow money, millions undeclared to tax authorities by him and investors or was even the Mafia involved? Furthermore, according to accounts, before he purchased the land, planes used to fly over the area landing on a nearby airport. Once he owned the area, the planes started to take another route, making the land more valuable.
In addition, Silvio Berlusconi built an advertising and a media empire. In 1973, he created the local cable TV channel TeleMilano which, in 1980, became Canale 5, Italy’s first nationwide private TV channel. In 1975, Berlusconi had formed Fininwest, to challenge the nationwide public TV monopoly. In 1982, Berlusconi bought Italia 1 and, in 1984, Rete 4. He later tried to establish himself on the international level, but gave up a few years later.
Silvio Berlusconi managed to create a quasi-monopoly of the private TV market, controlling at one point some 90% of that segment. As PM, he tried to gain (political) control over Italy’ public TV channels. Berlusconi had the power to have his media portray him in a good light. He often went on the air, also on the public RAI channel.
The rise of Silvio Berlusconi’s media empire was related to the rise of Bettino Craxi, the leader of Italy’s Socialist Party from 1976 until 1993 and Italy’s prime minister from 1983 until 1987.
On October 16, 1984 judges in Pescara, Rome and Turin had tried to enforce a law which gave the exlusive right to broadcast on a nationwide level to the public broadcaster RAI. Just four days later, Bettino Craxi’s government passed an emergency decree which legalized private broadcasts by Berlusconi’s TV stations. In short, a tailormade solution for the media mogul who, in return, had a soft spot for Craxi, his party and his government.
In the 1987 election, Bettino Craxi lost the premiership, taken over by the Christian Democrats. Craxi’s Socialists were part of four successive coalition governments from 1987 until 1992, when the Tangentopoli scandal broke. The Socialist Mario Chiesa was caught in flagranti while accepting a bribe. He was arrested and started to talk. The Mani Pulite (Clean Hands) operation began and swept away many politicians, including Bettino Craxi, who lived at the luxurious Hotel Raphael in Rome (where I’ve stayed myself), not really a place for a “socialist”. In May 1994, to avoid prison, Bettino Craxi fled to Tunisia, where he owned a large villa. He died in exile.
Silvio Berlusconi’s political career started in 1993 when he founded the party Forza Italia (Let’s Go Italy), the slogan of the fans of the Italian national football team. The name was a clever move, as was the printed election program full of promises, which he distributed to most Italian households. It was one of many innovations he brought to Italian politics, thanks to PR specialists from his private company. Forza Italia was part of a center-right coalition which managed to win a parliamentary majority.
As prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi did not get rid of his businesses as promised during the electoral campaign, leaving him with plenty of conflicts of interest. His first government collapsed after just nine months due to internal disagreements. However, as stated on top, in total, Silvio Berlusconi managed to govern Italy for nine years (May 11, 1994 – January 17, 1995; June 11, 2001 – May 17, 2006; May 8, 2008 – November 16, 2011).
On August 1, 2013 Silvio Berlusconi was finally convicted for tax fraud. His earlier four-year prison sentence was confirmed. In addition, he was banned from holding public office for several years. Aged 76, he did not have to go to jail. Instead, he was forced to do unpaid community service. He was expelled him from the Senate.
However, Silvio Berlusconi is a comeback kid. After his ban ended, Berlusconi successfully ran to become a member of the European Parliament in 2019 and, in 2022, he won a seat in the Italien Senate.
In addition to some shady business dealings and beginnings mentioned above, Silvio Berlusconi “bought” his famous villa in Arcore from an underage girl for a ridiculously low price.
The British corporate lawyer David Mills, the former husband of the late UK Labour politician and Cabinet Minister Tessa Jowell, had accepted a bribe from Silvio Berlusconi and given false evidence on behalf of the Italian in corruption trials in 1997 and 1998. David Mills appealed time and again and, in 2010, the Italian Cassation Court ruled that the statute of limitations had expired. In short, the maximum time for legal proceedings had expired.
Silvio Berlusconi himself got away like that more than once. As a billionaire, he could not just bribe people, he could appeal time and again, slow down the legal process until the statute of limitations had expired.
The list of Berlusconi’s business and political scandals is endless. His notorious contacts with Mafiosi are people with contacts to the Mafia included Antonino Giuffrè, Berlusconi’s stableman in Arcore Vittorio Mangano, Berlusconi’s advisor and close ally Marcello Dell’Utri.
Another close ally was Cesare Previti, whom Berlusconi initially had wanted as Minister of Justice in his first government. Italy’s President, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, given the man’s reputation, was opposed to this and, therefore, Previti ended up as Italy’s Minister of Defence. In 2006, Cesare Previti was sentenced to six years in prison for corruption but, thanks to a Berlusconi law, he ended up with house arrest due to his age. He was however banned from holding public office for life and disbarred as a lawyer.
Last, but not least, let’s mention a few private scandals which made headlines around the globe. In 2009, his then second wife, Veronica Lario, a former actress, told the Roman daily La Repubblica: “That’s enough, I cannot remain with a man who consorts with minors.” Silvio Berlusconi had attended the 18th birthday party of a girl in Naples. At the same time, Veronica Lario told the newspaper La Stampa: “This really surprised me, because he never came to any 18th birthday party for his children, despite being invited.”
In addition, Silvio Berlusconi was famous for throwing Bunga Bunga parties with young, naked ladies. In this context, he famously had the 17-year-old Moroccan prostitute Karima El Mahroug aka “Ruby Rubcuore” (Ruby the Heartstealer) released from police custody claiming that she was the niece of then Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak”. He feared that she could endanger his political career, having participated in a Bunga Bunga party.
Many young ladies and other (alleged) sex partners as well as politicians and businessmen accused of wrongdoings misteriously got plenty of (hush) money to endulge in luxury lifestyles. Honi soit qui mal y pense.
To sum it up, Silvio Berlusconi sometimes said the right things but never lived up to his promises, one of them being to make Italy more business friendly. He mainly cared about protecting his interests, his businesses.
He was a shady business billionaire who started his career probably with the help of shadow money, not declared to tax authorities by him and other investors and/or with the help of Mafia money. He became a politician to protect his media empire and other businesses and had unresolved conflicts of interest until the end of his life.
Silvio Berlusconi was as fake as his hair and his face. In the end, with his artificial smile thanks to plastic surgery, he reminded me of The Joker in Batman.
Silvio Berlusconi was a man larger than life. Not even a large book could tell the full story.
Suggested reading, an older, but still valuable book by Alexander Stille: The Sack of Rome: Media + Money + Celebrity = Power = Silvio Berlusconi. 2007, 400 pages. Kindle eBook or paperback at Amazon.com. The German edition: Alexander Stille: Citizen Berlusconi. C.H. Beck, 2006, 383 S. Order it from Amazon.de.
The photograph on top of the page is cropped from an image showing the 2010 Italian PM (Presidente del Consiglio) Silvio Berlusconi in a meeting with the 2010 Spanish PM José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Photograph: Ministry of the Presidency, Government of Spain. Via Wikipedia/Wikimedia.
Article added on June 14, 2023 at 22:53 Italian time. Updated at 23:01.
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