Silvio Berlusconi, ‘the knight’ known for scandals, dies at 86
Silvio Berlusconi, the magnate turned politician and former Prime Minister of Italy, has died in Milan at the age of 86.
Born in Milan on September 29, 1936, the right-wing leader was widely known for his financial and sex scandals, but also transformed Italian politics. His dominance over the electoral sphere influenced the views of a generation of Italians.
Berlusconi, often compared to former US President Donald Trump, made his first fortune in real estate and construction, and then slowly expanded, particularly into the world of mass media.
Between the late 1970s and 1980s, he built a media empire. It included a publishing house and a popular cable television network, Mediaset, recognized as the main competitor of Italian state television.
In 1986, he bought the popular AC Milan football team and saved it from certain bankruptcy.
However, it was not until 1994 that ‘the knight’, Berlusconi’s popular nickname, entered Italian politics.
With the creation of a new right-wing party, Forza Italia (Go Italy), a new era in Italian politics began and Berlusconi won his first election as Prime Minister that same year.
“He became the symbol of a new historical phase for Italy, where politics is no longer shaped by parties, but by single, strong characters,” said Giovanni Orsina, director of the Luiss School of Government in Rome.
“Berlusconi is a product of the golden age of Italian commercial TV.”
Although Berlusconi’s first mandate lasted only a year, as he was accused of fraud and criticized for his control over the Italian media, he retained his political power.
His promises of economic growth attracted new voters, winning elections again in 2001 and 2008.
He remained in power until late 2011, when he resigned after losing parliament’s confidence following a highly publicized sex scandal.
After moving into politics, Berlusconi was regular fodder for the Italian tabloids, reporting on his more than 20 court cases for abuse of power, financial fraud and rumors of lewd partying at his private villa just outside Milan.
The most followed case dates back to February 2011, when he was accused of soliciting sex from a 17-year-old Egyptian sex worker.
He was heavily criticized for supporting a law allowing politicians to escape trials while in office.
The episode damaged Berlusconi’s popularity and he was later replaced by a series of temporary technocratic governments.
‘Politicians as clowns’
“There have been many concerns about foreign media coverage portraying our politicians as clowns. But the truth is that we built this scenario ourselves,” Orsina said.
“Foreign media based their coverage on our own coverage, which focused on trivial aspects and overlooked the real political complexities.”
According to Francesco Galietti, an Italian political analyst, Berlusconi should also be remembered for his ability to manage difficult relationships, especially in the early 2000s.
“He was the only leader in recent years who understood Italy’s potential role in international scenarios. He was able to understand leaders like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, [Turkey’s Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan and [United States President George] Bush on certain occasions. No other Italian leader after him could handle that level of international involvement,” Galietti told Al Jazeera.
But he failed to reach an agreement with former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and then German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2011, who urged Italy to quickly restructure the market as Italy’s debt and euro crisis spiraled .
His popularity reached an all-time low and this period marked the end of Berlusconi’s last mandate.
“Since then, many Italian party leaders have tried to emulate Berlusconi’s influence, but none have managed to go that far,” explains Galietti.
“Everyone wants to inherit their legacy, but nobody knows how, especially outside of domestic politics.”
Even when he was out of office, Berlusconi dominated the headlines.
In December 2012, his announcement of an official return to politics contributed to the collapse of Mario Monti’s technocratic government.
Although the European Court of Human Rights banned Berlusconi from political office in 2013, he succeeded in overturning the ruling.
During the 2017 Sicilian regional elections, he supported the winning right-wing coalition, which included his party, Forza Italia, as well as anti-immigrant Lega Nord (Northern League) and Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia) parties.
The Sicilian victory was a strategic move to officially quash former leftist Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s hopes of his possible comeback, and cemented the influence of the right wing in the south.
The 2018 national government elections resulted in a populist victory, with the Movimento 5 Stelle (Five Star Movement) and Lega Nord forming a coalition and Matteo Salvini emerging as the new leader of the far right.
Berlusconi continued to pursue his political goals by promoting a pro-EU agenda in his last term.
In 2019, at the age of 83 and after undergoing delicate abdominal surgery, he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament.
“The European elections marked an important stage for Forza Italia, bringing new opportunities and at the same time confirming that Berlusconi’s party remains a mainstay of the centre-right,” explained Forza Italia legislator Alfio Papale, who personally sided with Berlusconi in the 2017 regional elections in Sicily.
“The victory in Sicily suggested to us that his moderate conservatism is an attractive political force that stands still in time.”
In recent years, as he struggled to stay relevant in Italy’s post-COVID political atmosphere, his health began to deteriorate.
At the beginning of September 2020 he contracted the virus and has been in hospital regularly since then.
However, he recently sparked controversy again by suggesting that Ukraine was responsible for Russia’s invasion, while condemning far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – a move he says he would not have made as leader .
Overall, he will be remembered for shaping a generation of Italian millennials.
“For 20 years we were brought up with an understanding of politics that concerned exclusively Berlusconi, or anti-Berlusconi,” said 36-year-old Galietti.
“As children of the Berlusconism era, it would feel strange not to see him again, if only for a brief flash on TV. He has influenced our existence.”
Berlusconi is survived by his girlfriend Marta Fascina, his two ex-wives Carla Dall’Oglio and Veronica Lario, three daughters – Barbara, Marina and Eleonora, and two sons – Luigi and Pier Silvio, who is the heir to his media empire and current executive vice president of Mediaset TV.
