Berlusconi’s berlusconate
The Scratches of Damato
Of the two hundred phone calls – of which I have read or heard – of greetings to Silvio Berlusconi for his 85th birthday, in spite of those who love him or just dream of his electoral legacy with growing impatience, the only one that has ended up on newspapers is the one made to him by the director of the Press Massimo Giannini. Which must not have lasted long – given the average of one every six or seven minutes in eighteen hours, therefore net of the night – but of which Giannini has reported with polite abundance, although perhaps misunderstanding it in one passage – we will see – particularly delicate.
The acknowledgment to Putin, referring to the director of the Press about the good wishes received also from Moscow, that he is now the only or last leader left in this politically impoverished world, to the east as well as to the west, remained undisputed, that is, not misunderstood. Where, on the other hand, Berlusconi has seen and attended quite a few, unfortunately all dead or set.
Of course, Berlusconi's sympathy for Putin is known, without having to bother too much with the usual bed or bed received as a gift, but it always makes a certain impression to see it strengthened. Once Paolo Guzzanti, although a forced deputy at the time at the head of a parliamentary commission of inquiry into certain bad spying habits in Moscow, harshly challenged him without disturbing him, and also being generously forgiven.
Equally peaceful remained the liquidation judgment on the "modest" abilities of the Social Democratic candidate for the Berlin Chancellery, with whom, however, after some initial resistance from the defeated Christian Democratic competitor, authoritative German exponents of the European People's Party of which Berlusconi prides himself on sharing opinions and militancy , starting with Angela Merkel, they congratulated him, thus encouraging him to establish a new government and denying the adversary who instead decided to resist him and steal possible allies from him. When you lose an electoral round, albeit to a limited extent, even in Germany, for a long time accustomed to governments of both winners and losers, it takes note without making a fuss. And it is not certain that a Christian Democratic chancellor can make Italy more convenient today than a Social Democratic chancellor in view of the European negotiations on the new stability pact, or whatever you prefer to call it, after the suspension of the old one due to the damage caused by the pandemic.
However, after the "misunderstanding" complained by Berlusconi, the passage in which the former president of the Council has practically liquidated the center-right talking about the problems that afflict him, including the annoying and embarrassing ones of the League after the bestial injury, to say the least, of the former spokesman of Matteo Salvini.
The latter is probably about to have confirmation of the suspicions on the Morisi operation – given that the story of the accidental control of a car and a subsequent search by the Carabinieri in a residence of the then spokesman of the Northern League leader – but not for this reason I fear that it will be able to limit the political damage of the affair too much. Which had the additional misfortune of coinciding with a political conflict that exploded with the head of the League's delegation in the government Giancarlo Giorgetti, not with a passer-by.
"Listen, let's be honest", Berlusconi would have said to Giannini talking about where Draghi could be in just a few months, at the Quirinale or at Palazzo Chigi, as I understand that the former Prime Minister prefers having said that the current head of government "must last". “If Draghi is elected president of the Republic, then who does he give the task of making the new government? To Salvini? Alla Meloni? Come on, let's not joke… ", Berlusconi heard a Giannini ask and answer, no longer surprised or pleased, who ironically concluded the news of the call like this, I don't know whether live or delayed:" Congratulations, president. To you and to the single party of the divided right ”.
With all the sympathy that Berlusconi deserves for the obstinacy with which he pursues and updates his political commitment while looking at opponents and friends at the same time, and inside and outside the courts, including the editorial offices that amplify the inexhaustible judicial initiatives against him; and with all the respect that his lamented "misunderstanding" in conversation with a journalist of proven professionalism such as the director of the Press deserves, it seems to me quite credible, or likely, that Berlusconi gives very little chance either to Salvini or to Meloni to land at Palazzo Chigi after the next elections, early or ordinary that may result. And equally unlikely it seems to me that Berlusconi himself could aspire to it, at his age and in the conditions in which his beloved and founded center-right, who is arriving at the administrative elections on Sunday with bated breath, to say the least.
Parties and alliances, a little bit all, appropriately put to rest in some way by the head of state with recourse to the atypical government of Draghi in the craziest legislature of the Republic, are in a crisis with truly unpredictable developments.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/le-berlusconate-di-berlusconi/ on Sat, 02 Oct 2021 06:00:13 +0000.