Anche Bloomberg è comunista...

[Mauam]

Berlusconi Seeks Place in History With Comeback Bid (Update1)

By Steve Scherer

April 11 (Bloomberg) -- Silvio Berlusconi is running for prime minister of Italy again -- and this time, he's running for his place in history too.

The media magnate is leading in polls before the April 13-14 national election, 14 years after he won power for the first time. In previous terms, he engineered legal changes that benefited his business interests and helped him avoid corruption charges even as the nation's economic problems worsened.

This time, he may be motivated by a desire to write his own political epitaph. Berlusconi, 71, has raised the possibility of eventually moving from the premiership to Italy's largely ceremonial presidency, allowing him to occupy a prestigious place above the daily tumult of politics.

``He'll always keep one eye on his personal interests,'' said Maurizio Pessato, chief executive officer of polling company SWG Srl in Trieste. ``But Berlusconi doesn't want half of Italians to hate him, and he wants to go down in history as a great statesman.''

Berlusconi's success in past elections stemmed from his business achievements -- he and his family own Italy's biggest private television broadcaster, Mediaset SpA, and are worth $9.4 billion, according to Forbes magazine -- and his message, after Italy's party system disintegrated in the 1990s following the discovery of widespread corruption, that he could save the country from Communism.

No Miracle

During his campaign in 2001, Berlusconi said Italy would experience an ``economic miracle'' if he were elected. Instead, the country went through three recessions during his five-year term. Italy's debt, the largest in the European Union, began to rise for the first time in a decade.

Meanwhile, he pushed through a media law removing antitrust restrictions on his television and publishing company, Fininvest SpA, and lawmakers changed the penal code to decriminalize most types of false accounting. That led to the dismissal of at least three charges against Berlusconi tied to his business activities in the 1980s and early 1990s.

``What matters to Berlusconi is staying in power and being at the center of things because he's been able to block any kind of legislation that he found damaging to his fortune or his position,'' said Alexander Stille, author of ``The Sack of Rome,'' a book about the ex-premier's career and rise to power in 1994 and 2001.

Trials in Milan

Berlusconi is still facing two trials in Milan, one on charges of fraudulent accounting at Mediaset and another for allegedly bribing a witness in two previous trials. Berlusconi, through his lawyer, Senator Niccolo Ghedini, denies wrongdoing. Neither trial is likely to conclude before the statute of limitations on the charges runs out, Ghedini said.

The country's 47 million voters declined to re-elect Berlusconi in 2006 because he failed to deliver on his promised economic miracle and was perceived as using government to help himself, Pessato said.

Yet it's simplistic to reduce Berlusconi's political ambition to private interests, said Raffaele De Mucci, a professor of politics at Rome's Luiss University. No one has been able to challenge him for the leadership of his People of Liberty party because no one has his wealth or appeal to voters.

``Objectively speaking, there's no one to take his place,'' De Mucci said. ``And then he believes he really is the only one who can do the job.''

Leading Veltroni

Berlusconi has kept a lead in opinion polls of between 6 and 9 percentage points and has refused to debate his 52-year-old opponent, former Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni, on television.

``It wasn't possible for anyone to replace me because the leaders of the right wanted a person with experience, who could get things done, and who had international credibility,'' Berlusconi said today in Rome, adding that polls show he is sure to win. ``I had to accept the candidacy.''

To burnish his legacy, a victorious Berlusconi would need to prove he can resolve Italy's two most serious issues, its economy and political gridlock, said Renato Mannheimer, head of pollster Ispo Ltd.

Italy is ranked last in terms of labor productivity, a measure of economic growth and competitiveness, among the 30- member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a report April 8 showed. Gross domestic product will expand 0.3 percent this year, a fifth of last year's rate, the International Monetary Fund estimates.

`The Crowning Achievement'

Changing Italy's political culture of fragile coalitions and short-lived governments may require Berlusconi and Veltroni to work together in parliament, Pessato said. Italy has had 61 governments since the end of World War II; the 61st, a 10-party coalition led by Prime Minister Romano Prodi, collapsed in January after less than two years.

For Berlusconi, ``becoming the president would be the crowning achievement in a stunning political career,'' said Gianfranco Pasquino, professor of politics at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna. It mightn't happen soon, though: The term of current president, Giorgio Napolitano, 82, runs for another five years.

The head of state, who is chosen by the two houses of parliament from among its most senior members, officiates over state visits and ceremonies, and decides when to dissolve parliament and who should become prime minister. It is a role that some Berlusconi-watchers say he would regard as the perfect capstone to his years of public life.

``At his age and at this point in his political career, Berlusconi wants to be able to say he did the things no one else could do,'' Pessato said. ``He safeguards his interests, but these are fairly protected now.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Steve Scherer in Rome at scherer@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 11, 2008 05:17 EDT

Ovviamente anche Bloomberg (una delle fonti migliori per l'analisi economica e politica internazionale) è in mano ai comunisti...




http://www.politicaonline.net/forum/...te=regolamento sezione Link.

[Mauam]

Nessun Bananas controbatte...

[14dicembre]

Nessun Bananas controbatte...

guarda che i banas manco lo sanno cos'è bloomberg

[Mauam]

E' vero....
QUello che mi preoccupa è la considerazione pari a zero che hanno dello Psiconano nelle stanze dove si decidono le sorti economiche del mondo... se come si vocifera abbassano il rating dell'Italia in caso di ritorno di Tremonti saranno volatili per diabetici per tutti gli italiani anche per quelli che non hanno votato quel pazzo...

[johnston]

Dai su, sinistroidi! Preparatevi al vostro ritorno all'opposizione: L'UNICO CHE VI COMPETE! E' inutile che cercate improbabili "alleati"