Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi {{audio|It-Silvio_Berlusconi.ogg|listen}} (born September 29, 1936 in Milan) is the current Prime Minister of Italy and is the leader of the Forza Italia political movement, a party which was established for his entry into politics.

Personality

Berlusconi is admired by some Italians for his tremendous success as a businessman; they praise what they consider his innovative ideas and enterpreneurial spirit. His detractors, however, point out that he tends to centralize power upon his person, and this is reflected in the organization of the Forza Italia party. Furthermore, critics often attribute a substantial part of his financial successes to his closeness to politicians that have been later exposed as corrupt (as Bettino Craxi) or even contiguous to the mafia (as Giulio Andreotti, who narrowly avoided a guilt verdict because the statute of limitations had been reached). Another criticism voiced is that he over-reacts to attacks from political opponents. Just about everyone agrees that he cares a great deal about his appearance; in January, 2004, after intense speculation in the media, he admitted he had a facelift http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3439801.stm.

Related Topics:
Bettino Craxi - Mafia - Giulio Andreotti - Facelift

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Berlusconi always tries to maintain a gentle, agreeable character with whoever he is talking to. His opponents perceive this as hypocrisy, since he can also deliver strong speeches that at times border on hate, especially when talking about communists. He is known to tell jokes to create a relaxed atmosphere, and trying to make sure everybody enjoys himself in his presence. He is especially careful about talking in intelligible Italian, while many politicians prior to 1992 talked an incomprehensible jargon.

Related Topics:
Hypocrisy - 1992 - Jargon

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His sense of humour is perceived to be somewhat coarse, and could be thought to be purposely targeted at the average Italian, if Berlusconi had not been a known figure already before entering politics. In February 2002, at a European Union summit of foreign ministers, Berlusconi, present since a replacement for his previous foreign minister, Renato Ruggiero, had not yet been appointed, made a vulgar gesture (the "corna") behind the head of the Spanish foreign minister, Josep Piqué, indicating he (Piqué) was a cuckold, exactly at the time of the taking of the official pictures. This is a common joke among Italian pre-teens, and many felt it was utterly out of place in an international meeting. He later explained that he "was joking", and he meant to create a relaxed climate, that this sort of meeting were meant to "create friendship, cordiality, simpatia and kind relationships" between the participants, and that he wanted to amuse a small group of bystanding boy scouts. http://www.repubblica.it/online/politica/gesto/gesto/gesto.html

Related Topics:
February - 2002 - European Union - Foreign minister - Renato Ruggiero - Corna - Spanish - Josep Piqué - Cuckold - Boy scout

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In mid-May 2005, while opening the European Food Safety Authority in Parma (after the location had previously been preferred over one in Finland and Berlusconi had accused Finns of "not knowing what prosciutto is"), Berlusconi claimed that he had to "blow away the dust from my playboy (in English) arts" with the Finnish president, Tarja Halonen, to convince her to locate the EFSA in Parma. This caused criticism from both Italy and Finland, with the Italian ambassador in Finland being called by the Finnish foreign minister. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4122596.stm. Sexist jokes are considered bad taste in nordic countries, but are part of a macho image in Italy, and are therefore more accepted, though far from classy.

Related Topics:
May - 2005 - European Food Safety Authority - Parma - Finland - Prosciutto - English - Tarja Halonen - Ambassador - Sexist - Bad taste - Nordic - Macho

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