Mattarella, Berlusconi marked the history of the Republic

(ANSA) - ROME, JUNE 12 - "I learn with deep sadness the news of the death of Silvio Berlusconi, founder and leader of Forza Italia, protagonist of long seasons of Italian politics and republican institutions. Berlusconi was a great political leader who marked the history of our Republic, affecting paradigms, customs and languages". This was underlined by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, who will be in Milan on Wednesday for the state funeral of Silvio Berlusconi. "In a season of profound upheavals, his "descent into the field", with a newly founded party, obtained such broad consensus that he could immediately compose a majority and a government. Berlusconi's leadership has helped shape a new geography of Italian politics, allowing him to assume the office of Prime Minister four times. In this capacity, he has tackled global events, such as the crisis opened by the attack on the Twin Towers, the fight against international terrorism and the financial upheavals at the end of the first decade of the new century. He gradually integrated the political movement he founded into the European People's Family, favoring continuity in the Atlantic and Europeanist orientation of our Republic.
He was a person endowed with great humanity and a successful entrepreneur, an innovator in his field. He has held senior positions in the television industry and the media sector, well before his direct involvement in the institutions. He has been the author of important successes in the world of Italian sport. I wish to express - concludes the Head of State - my condolences and solidarity with his children, all his family members, his party, those who were closest to him in life and in the last battle against the disease, fought with courage and exemplary optimism". (ANSA).