Silvio Berlusconi has died

The ex died Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi died today at the age of 86 at the San Raffaele Hospital in Rome, reports the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Early years and business career

He was born on September 29, 1936 in Milan, the son of a middle-class family, the son of a bank manager. He studied law and in 1962 founded his first construction company “Edilnord” benefiting from the rapid construction boom in Milan. In the 1970s, he made his first investments in the media, taking advantage of the liberalization of the television market. Within 15 years (1986) he came to own 80% of Italian private television, while the same year owner of Milan football team.

Subsequently Silvio Berlusconi acquires the largest Italian publishing house, the well-known “Montandori” and one of the leading Italian newspapers “Il Giornale”, while another 150 or so companies are contained under the control of “Fininvest”, the parent company of his financial giant. Despite this, a series of debts and judicial investigations for tax evasion, bribery, accounting fraud and even connections with the Italian mafia had literally formed a cord around the Italian tycoon. However, contrary to all predictions, Silvio Berlusconi proceeds to found the political party “Forza Italia” and enters the political arena in cooperation with the “National Alliance” and the “Lega of the North”, known for its separatist tendencies.

Prime ministerial terms

In the 1994 elections the Italian people offered him victory and Berlusconi was anointed Prime Minister of Italy. His first term will last a few months due to internal turmoil in the ruling coalition that will force him to resign. Despite this reversal followed by first-trial convictions – which were later overturned – for financial scandals (1997 and 1998), he remained politically active as the leader of the opposition.

In 2001 announcing a host of tax breaks, anti-crime measures, pension increases and unemployment reduction he won re-election and a series of political shocks for himself and Italy would follow, among them the scandalous 2003 law granting asylum to public officials , his refusal to relinquish control of his media empire, his (2nd in a row) support for the invasion of Iraq and a number of other less important measures and positions.

But in the last elections of 2006 Silvio Berlusconi will lose to his opponent Romano Prodi and will return to the leadership of the opposition. He was re-elected in the parliamentary elections of April 2008. He achieved victories in both the House and the Senate. In the 315-member Senate, Berlusconi’s party won 168 seats to 130 for his rival, Walter Veltroni. In the House of Representatives, Berlusconi’s conservative coalition led with 46.8% of the vote compared to 37.5% for his opponent.

His main priorities were cleaning the streets of Naples of garbage and improving the Italian economy. Berlusconi’s new government was sworn in and assumed office on 8 May 2008. On 14 May 2008, it received a vote of confidence from Parliament with 335 votes in favor and 275 against.

The People of Freedom party, with which he won the 2008 elections, was founded on November 18, 2007 and came from the union of Forza Italia with Gianfranco Fini’s National Alliance. The official establishment took place at the congress on 27-29 March 2009, at which Berlusconi was elected party leader.

On 13 December 2009 he suffered facial injuries after being attacked by a person who punched him. The incident took place in Milan, after a political rally. Berlusconi’s government received a vote of confidence from the House by a vote of 342-275 on 29 September 2010 and by the Senate on 14 December 2010, by a vote of 162 to 308.

Silvio Berlusconi has come under pressure to resign after Italy’s economy worsened and the interest rate on government borrowing rose above 6%. Ultimately, he promised to resign after the Italian Parliament passed the stabilization package for the Italian economy, which he did on November 12, 2011.

Conviction – Appeal

In October 2012 he was sentenced to 4 years in prison for tax evasion. Immediately after the announcement of the conviction, S. Berlusconi is reported to have declared “Democracy is over, so we cannot move forward”. “I was sure that the trial would end with my acquittal, this is a clearly political decision.” Speaking later on his owned TV channel Italia Uno, he argued that “because of some judges, Italy is turning into a barbaric country”. Continuation of these statements, the secretary of the center-right party, People of Freedom (PDL), Angelino Albano added “This is another continuation of the well-known project that foresees the judicial persecution of Berlusconi”.

It is noted that the sentence concerns the purchase of television rights for the screening of films from the USA by the television channels of the Berlusconi-owned Mediaset group. According to the Italian criminal procedure, S. Berlusconi has the right to appeal against the decision twice before there is a final conviction. Consequently, he is not required to serve the prison sentence until his final appeal is heard. The first has already been exercised.

After the decision Mediaset shares fell almost 3%

Back to politics

At the beginning of December 2012, Silvio Berlusconi’s party, “The People of Freedom” withdrew its support to the government of technocrat Mario Modi, resulting in political (governmental) instability in Italy. It is noted that Mario Modi’s government has so far had the support of the People of Liberty, the center-left Democratic Party and the Center Union (Italy). This fact had as a direct consequence that the so-called “spreads” took off, while according to international political analysts, Italy was headed for early elections with the announcement of them at the end of February or the beginning of March.

The secretary of the People of Freedom, Angelino Alfano, having previously met with the Italian president, Giorgio Napolitano, told the Italian Parliament: “The experience of the Modi government is over. Commitments to reform judicial criminal liability and a new law to regulate court-ordered wiretapping have not been kept. That most of the People’s Freedom Party MPs continue to abstain does not mean they will necessarily topple the Modi government, which may win a vote of confidence, although it remains more vulnerable than the Right. However, it is noted that such a development for early elections interrupts discussions on a new electoral law that would prohibit the candidacy of those convicted of criminal offences.