Silvio Berlusconi and Italy
...Italy”). he formed two separate electoral alliances, with Northern League in northern Italy colleges, and with National Alliance in the center and south; he launched a massive campaign of electoral spots on his three TV networks and he won the elections. He was appointed Prime minister of Italy in 1994 but shortly resigned after 7 months due to the fact that he was receiving death threats. Berlusconi soon returned to the political forefront as Italy's prime minister with May 13th, 2001 election victory. When Mr Berlusconi founded his political party, Forza Italia, in 1993, little was known about his business methods. He portrayed himself to Italians as a self-made man who had built up a powerful television empire by breaking the monopoly of Italy’s state-owned broadcaster, RAI. He told them that he represented a clean break with Italy’s corrupt past. When he came into power again, he promised to cut taxes, create jobs, reform health care and pensions but none of that has yet to have happened. The court heard that, back in 1991, his lawyer and close friend, Cesare Previti, received $434,404 from Fininvest, the company of Mr Berlusconi's business empire; and that Mr Previti then sent the same amount to a Rome judge via Swiss bank accounts. Another Milan court decided last year that this payment was a bribe, and sentenced Mr Previti to five years and the judge to eight in jail. Berlusconi has bribed judges back in 1985 as well. The prosecutors argued that Mr Berlusconi must have known about the payment. But Berlusci was let off the hook. Soon after this happened, the italian parliament made a law granting Italy’s top leaders immunity from prosecution. After he leaves parliament he will face trial for allegedly bribing judges and tax frauds. Just about everybody in Italy thinks that Berlusconi is mainly interested in advancing his own private agenda rather than improving Italy’s economy. For every action Berlusconi takes there seems to be a private motive that has little to do with his promises to the Italian people or with the needs of the Italian nation. In one widely reported incident, upon being asked how he would have dealt with his conflict of interests by the German member of the European parliament Martin Schulz (SPD) during Italy's presidency, Berlusconi reacted with the words "Mr. Schulz, I know there is a producer in Italy who is making a film on the Nazi concentration camps. I will suggest you for the role of kap...