The true legacy (and the true “miracle”) of Silvio Berlusconi
Berlusconi has not designated an heir, it is said. But the heir is there: it is the center-right itself that he created and has permeated with himself, albeit with nuances, the different histories of the parties that compose it. It is the "miracle" of Cav's gamble. Paola Sacchi's note
Antonio Tajani, from Washington visiting Secretary of State Blinken, remembers him with "immense pain", posting the 1994 photo on Twitter, when he, current Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, coordinator of the blue, was the first spokesman for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi . With the nice post of Tajani, who is also the co-founder of Forza Italia, and who has just returned from the two days in Rome of the Ppe, with Weber, who relaunched FI, the whole history of the Cav since 1994, the descent into the field, the party that was born from the first corporate embryo of Publitalia and the 27 blue men, coordinated by the managing director of the advertising agency Fininvest, Marcello dell'Utri.
Tajani came from Indro Montanelli's Giornale , where he was head of the Roman editorial staff. A big blue like Maurizio Gasparri claims "the pride and honor of having had his trust without ever betraying it". Licia Ronzulli, group leader in the Senate, mourns "the doctor, like a father to me". With her Alessandro Cattaneo, national deputy coordinator and all the blue staff. The group leader in the Chamber, Paolo Barelli, the ministers Annamaria Bernini, Elisabetta Casellati, the undersecretary for foreign affairs Maria Tripodi.
But "Silvio" has left indelible traces not only in his creature Fi, the sign of the Cav, "the center of the center-right", as he never tired of repeating until the end, it is indelible in all the center-right, by himself founded. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni recalls this, underlining the great competence of "Silvio" also on international issues, the "honor" of having heard him say several times on the telephone in recent times: "Giorgia, you are doing well".
Meloni, interviewed by the director of Tg5 , Clemente Mimun, then underlined above all his desire to put Italy back at the centre: "Berlusconi has always promoted national interests in foreign policy". This is how Meloni pays homage to him, who comments in the wake of his teaching: "Now, in his memory, forward with the Constitutional Reforms, the reduction of taxes on labor … and forward united, we owe it to him. Silvio was the one who had more experience than all of us".
He is a Matteo Salvini, very moved, with his voice breaking at times, he recalls his long-standing friendship, even personal, with "Silvio", in the wake of the historical, ancient one between yesterday's and today's League with Berlusconi. The Arcore-Via Bellerio axis has never failed. The founder of the Northern League, Umberto Bossi, remembers with emotion: "Berlusconi has always been close to me like a brother". Salvini, the leader of the National League, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure-Transport, underlines the special talent of the Cav, "concave and convex", Berlusconi said of himself, "the only one who knew how to put ten people around a table, even with different ideas" . Salvini also recalls that the blue leader died working to the end: “On the Europeans, the bridge started by him. Now we have to finish what he started."
Here, now all the observers, inevitably, even if not disinterestedly, are wondering what will become of FI and consequently of the centre-right, since Berlusconi has not designated an heir. But the heir is there: it is the center-right itself that he created and has permeated with himself, albeit with nuances, the different histories of the parties that compose it. It is the "miracle" of Cav's gamble, "the doctor", as they have always called him in Arcore, who thus founded the bipolarity, changing the political history of the country. He left behind the most precious thing that the center-right has: the coalition. Which made him and makes him successful compared to a crushed and divided centre-left, now increasingly in poor harmony with the so-called real country.
It is no coincidence that Berlusconi is mourned by the common Italy that he understood much better than others, as even his own opponents acknowledge. Berlusconi: it doesn't end here, as a beautiful song said. It is not rhetoric, but the great Italian, the statesman of the Second Republic is destined to leave a profound mark. With its heir: the centre-right coalition. Where everyone will play their role.
Looking back, that video of Berlusconi from the hospital to the FI Convention to the executives, to the militants invited to become bearers of the secular religion of freedom was already a passing of the baton. Addressing his followers, in return to the allies united in the battle for the affirmation of the principle of freedom, as Meloni recalled, which passes from tax reduction to growth and development, Berlusconi has left the baton to that clear and precise vision that has always divided the center-right from the divided left, without in fact a real program for the country.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/silvio-berlusconi-eredita-vera/ on Tue, 13 Jun 2023 05:53:18 +0000.