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James Debono writes that Italy’s choice of premier is hard for the country that has been shaped by Berlusconi’s media empire
“I am the Jesus Christ of politics,” incumbent Italian Prime Minister told supporters at an election campaign dinner in Rome. “I am a patient victim. I put up with everyone. I sacrifice myself for everyone.”
A day before Berlusconi’s messianic confession, the Italian PM and billionaire magnate had compared himself to the Napoleon, saying that only the French emperor had done more for his country, but joked that “I am definitely taller”.
As usual, the European press has derided Berlusconi’s typical gaffes as sheer megalomania.
Surely modesty is not the Italian Prime Minister’s greatest virtue. But Berlusconi’s extravagance might turn out to be his ultimate strength.
The Italian right wing leader projects himself as a self-made businessman who can speak frankly in a world of colourless and career politicians bent on backstabbing even their closest allies.
He wants Italians to think of him as the eternal victim of political and judicial intrigue, rather than the man who entered politics with the sole purpose of protecting his media empire after he lost the protection of Bettino Craxi.
Berlusconi’s nemesis is Massimo D’Alema, the sober and elegant ideologue who orchestrated the transformation of the Italian communist party into a mainstream social democratic party ready to govern Italy.
Berlusconi constantly reminds Italian voters that his real adversary is not former European Commission president Massimo Prodi, the centre left alliance’s candidate for the premiership. The latter, seen by many as a benevolent and trustworthy grandfather figure nicknamed ‘Mortadella’, has proved an elusive target for Berlusconi’s attacks.
D’Alema fits more easily in Berlusconi’s plot as the evil communist wolf. Berlusconi constantly reminds voters that way back in 1996 they had voted for Prodi as prime minister only to end with D’Alema as premier after his government was toppled by the unrepentant communist Fausto Bertinotti, leader of the Rifondazione Comunista.
D’Alema only managed to become Prime Minister in 1997 after the Christian Democrat Clemente Mastella defected from the right to the left- a typical example of the political intrigue denounced by Berlusconi.
Yet this time round Berlusconi’s plot for projecting himself as Italy’s saviour is a bit more complicated. His attacks on career politicians have undermined his restless allies. He has gone as far as blaming his failures in government on the intrigues of his allies.
Gianfranco Fini, leader of the right wing Alleanza Nazionale, and speaker of the house Pierferdinano Casini, leader of the Christian-democrat Union, have done everything possible to avoid transforming these elections into a referendum on Berlusconi.
Both politicians have gone as far as saying that they will claim the premiership if anyone of them gets one more vote more than Berlusconi.
Yet their attempt to avoid the personalisation of the centre right around the Berlusconi’s figure has been sabotaged by the Cavaliere’s extravagance.
Prodi’s leadership over the centre left is more solid than ever, after his candidacy for the premiership was legitimated by democratic primaries.
In 1996 Bertinotti had only pledged his external support for Prodi, and now he is committed to appoint ministers in a government led by Prodi.
The centre left has also presented a detailed electoral programme, which binds everyone from Clemente Mastella, leader of the Christian-democrat UDEUR, to Bertinotti.
Bertinotti has also managed to inject a dose of principled idealism in a coalition, which for a long time had failed to inspire.
Although cracks have emerged between Prodi and Bertinotti on the construction of a road network in the Val de Susa, Prodi was quick to assert his leadership saying that the road network cannot be stopped.
Berlusconi’s latest stratagem was that of announcing a result of a survey conducted by a US company showing him in the lead, contradicting the results of all Italian surveys showing Prodi’s Unione in the lead.
Yet even the Italian surveys shows that in three months Berlusconi has managed to narrow a 10 per cent gap to a 4 per cent lead.
The choice between extravagant claims and complex programmes is now proving to be hard for a country, which now partly owes its identity to il Cavaliere’s media empire.
jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt
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