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| SPECIAL ISSUE |
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| Italy: the awkward candidate to the European Parliament |
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| [Italica] - The European Parliament’s election is coming. In a short time, European citizens will choose their representatives for the European Parliament. As in other European countries, people don’t concern themselves about European policy, the real crux of the elections, but vote based on local concerns. But in Italy there is a special point of interest. Italians are awaiting these elections in a chaotic electoral campaign. Disclosures about the Prime Minister’s “friendship” with a seventeen-year (now eighteen-year) old girl, his failing second marriage, his declarations and contradictions regarding his financial dealings that led to David Mill’s corruption charge in an Italian court, and to the legality of his immunity to the corruption charge are at the core of the debate. Berlusconi is relying on a campaign of silence. The majority of TV programs, Italian broadcasting being directly or indirectly dominated by the Premier, are trying to ignore the news. In a country where very few people read newspapers, it is a clever strategy. Silvio Berlusconi is also proposing that his private life should be shielded from his role as a politician. Mr Berlusconi is, unquestionably, the most famous contemporary Italian politician in the world. His “privacy” is a political joke. He concentrated his political life on his private life. He is the entrepreneur, the worker, the father. For the 2001 elections he decided to send to every Italian family not his political program, but a book titled “An Italian story”, his story about his “private” success which was the key for the political triumph. His private life has become ‘private’ only since it threatens to be a political liability. But this Italian story becomes a European story. He is a candidate for the European Parliament. That’s the point. He knows that his party suffers his absence. And he was the fool’s gold in an Italian electoral campaign. Prime Ministers can’t be MEP. However his plan has come to haunt him. The Italian centre-right loves the world “boomerang”, but this time Berlusconi is on the trajectory. He can’t elude his “legend”. He wanted to be the spotlight and at the moment he is. He is the awkward candidate to the European Parliament for the 2009 Elections. Unfortunately voters often don’t think of Europe when voting for Europe. National issues are frequently less important but more followed. But now he is a candidate and his matters are a public matter. [June 3, 2009 – Written by Matteo Miele - Italica news from Italy and San Marino] |
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