Main focus of Thursday, September 10, 2009

New disclosures about Berlusconi

Recent disclosures by Southern Italian businessman Gianpaolo Tarantini have landed Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in trouble again. According to Wednesday's edition of the daily Corriere della Sera, Tarantini stated in a police interrogation on July 29 that he had recruited a total of 30 young women for 18 parties in the prime minister's private villas between September 2008 and January 2009. Some of the women are said to have received up to 1000 euros to spend the night with Berlusconi. The European press is outraged.

La Repubblica - Italy

Since April the left-liberal Italian daily La Repubblica has been calling on Silvio Berlusconi to answer ten questions about the scandals involving his person. After the most recent revelations about parties with paid women the newspaper calls on the head of government to finally justify himself before parliament: "Sex, prostitution, shady dealings and drugs. Berlusconi has slid into this milieu because of an unresolved sexual weakness which his [wife] Veronica Lario revealed at the right moment. From this milieu many intrigues and too much blackmail could emerge which the head of government is clearly no longer able to foresee and control as he did in the past by giving himself permanent immunity. … The slow but inexorable revelation of the disordered lifestyle of the prime minister, who has become addicted to sex, must be ended by a public inquiry if we want to prevent the credibility of the institutions from being destroyed along with Berlusconi's reputation. … He should finally confront parliament and give it and us account [of his activities]. He can't be allowed to get away with his usual advice not to read the papers." (10/09/2009)

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Le Monde - France

Italy's head of government Silvio Berlusconi has filed a suit against the newspapers La Repubblica and L'Unità, which had reported critically on his purported sexual escapades. The French daily Le Monde writes: "Berlusconi has initiated a new phase in the 'tension strategy' with the press. ... This battle could prove far more perilous for the prime minister than he thinks. ... Although the outcome of these trials remains uncertain, Berlusconi has other means of intimidating the press: his own papers. It was Il Giornale, a newspaper belonging to his own group, that led the slander campaign against Dino Boffo which forced him to resign as director of the Catholic daily Avvenire. Intimidation, pressure, control: Berlusconi's machinations ... have set off a wave of protest in favour of the freedom of the press. Some 260,000 people have signed the petition launched by three eminent jurists and put online by La Repubblica, denouncing 'an attempt to muzzle the free press'." (09/09/2009)

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The Times - United Kingdom

The conservative daily The Times sees three reasons why Italy's head of government Silvio Berlusconi could soon be removed from office: "Mr Berlusconi may, for the moment, be riding out the scandal. But three things make him vulnerable. The first is the damage he has caused to Italy's image abroad. Foreign sniggers and the schadenfreude over a country that appears to be reinforcing its stereotype are deeply wounding to Italians. Second, he now displays a bunker mentality that is more and more at odds with reality and political common sense. The libel writs, the denials, the ostentatious display of business as normal conceal a seething anger over the failure of his virtual world of image and spin to protect him from the real world. Third, there is an unspoken worry of blackmail. Some of the girls are said to be from Eastern Europe. What if a foreign power decides to exploit this tawdry affair? It is not only Rome's worry. Italy is also an important Western partner in Nato, the Balkans and Afghanistan. The Prime Minister's antics concern and embarrass all his country's friends." (10/09/2009)

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