Berlusconi is looking for the big stage: is Italy's ex-head of state holding the reins again?

Created: 08/30/2022, 09:04

Silvio Berlusconi could soon be back in power in Italy.

© IMAGO/STUDIO FOTOGRAFICO BUZZI SRL

Silvio Berlusconi turns 86 and presents himself as the future mediator of a right-wing alliance that is likely to be reformed after the elections on September 25th.

Will he soon be pulling the strings in Italy's politics again?

Rome – Elections are coming soon in Italy.

Flowery campaign promises are made on the summer talk shows.

One might think that Silvio Berlusconi, the four-time prime minister and once great zampano of Italian politics, would use his media empire Mediaset to create a mood for himself.

But Silvio, who is almost 86 years old, is now pulling out all the stops: the Forza Italia boss has just announced that he will also be present on the Tiktok social media platform, which is so popular with younger people.

Internet snippets of him have been circulating there for a long time, posted by other users.

About the other day while walking with his 32-year-old girlfriend Marta Fascina.

When he happened to meet young people, the ex-prime minister joked: “Be decent – ​​and use condoms!” He had the laughs on his side.

Election campaign in Italy: CSU Vice Weber advertises for Berlusconi

His party's candidates are not allowed to joke like that.

As “La Stampa” found out, they were prepared for the election campaign with a handbook that included things like: use social networks, morning, noon and night;

Identify and influence opinion leaders such as doctors, teachers and journalists;

always look the voters in the eye;

Don't talk about the polls favoring the centre-right alliance with Forza Italia, otherwise the reluctant would have no motivation to vote.

And when in doubt: highlight Silvio Berlusconi as the leader and founder of the alliance.

All this in all seriousness.

Even if many still remember him as the scandalous noodle of the bunga bunga nights, Berlusconi is much more than that. CSU Vice President Manfred Weber, head of the European People's Party in the EU Parliament, supported Berlusconi's candidacy for president in January, hailed him as a "strong centre-right leader".

Weber wants to promote Berlusconi again this Wednesday in Rome with Forza Italia coordinator Antonio Tajani.

The party could indeed play an important role as a mediator between the far-right forces of Fratelli d'Italia (FdI) and Lega after the elections.

Founded in 1994 and always tailored to its leader, the party never tires of emphasizing how deeply Forza Italia is "anchored in Atlantic and pro-European positions".

The fact that Berlusconi maintained a close friendship with Russia's President Vladimir Putin is currently being kept secret.

Silvio Berlusconi: Back to power in Italy with a tripartite alliance?

The balance of power in the centre-right alliance is clear.

In view of the polls, FdI boss Giorgia Meloni is preparing to become Italy's first female prime minister.

Lega boss and ex-Interior Minister Matteo Salvini is still hoping for an overtaking manoeuvre.

Berlusconi's Forza Italia can count on around seven percent.

And yet, at the end of July, the ex-prime minister invited the partners of his later electoral alliance to his new Roman residence "Villa Grande", where the decision to overthrow Mario Draghi's government was probably taken.

Were the partners accommodating an old man with their visit, or is he actually still pulling the strings?

In any case, Berlusconi's thirst for power is undisputed.

In Draghi's multi-party government, Forza Italia was one force among many.

In the right-wing alliance of three, Berlusconi's weight will be greater and his vote will be decisive.

There is speculation as to what Meloni and Salvini promised Berlusconi politically for Draghi's fall.

There was talk of the second office in the state, the presidency of the Senate.

So far, however, it is only clear that Berlusconi will run for this chamber again.

He is running in the constituency of Monza, the seat of his family villa in Arcore near Milan.

In 2013, senators expelled him from the chamber because of his four-year sentence on tax fraud charges.

His ban from office only fell in 2019. At that time, Berlusconi was serving his sentence in social services.

The elections are also supposed to be a Roman comeback for the ex-prime minister, no longer just in the back rooms, but officially through the front door.