Berlusconi is not Italy

It is evening. On air an Italian show “otto e mezzo” featuring Italian minister for tourism Maria Vittoria Brambilla. The title is “BERLUSCONI INTERNATIONAL” and the aim to find out if there is a true conspiracy of foreign press against Italian premier.

In conclusion the Ms Brambilla invites Italians to defend their country image and reputation, whatever their political ideas are. Because our country is great and we all should be proud of it.

Fine. Isn’t she right? Italy is a great country. Has anybody attacked the Coliseum? Or raised doubts about Sistine chapel’s reputation? That’s not the point. Foreign press is talking about one single man. About his personal behavior and his own problems with law.

In minister’s words we can find maybe the key for (past?) success of the prime minister. He just identifies himself with Italy. Therefore his enemies become national enemies. People that criticize him are Anti-Italians (meaning enemies of the country).It seems crazy but it surely worked and god knows if can still work.

If we turn off TV for a while, we may turn mind on. Berlusconi is not Italy. Criticism about his behavior, his problems with law have nothing to do with Italy. Alas they affect Italian’s reputation, since Italians voted Mr Berlusconi and seem to not blame him too much.

Italians should ask themselves if premier contribution to Italian reputation is positive or negative. What should they think of foreign citizens tolerating such a premier? At least these simple questions should be affordable.

Because give a fair evaluation to government would be ask too much to Italian voters.

The court ruled, now what?

Rome, 7 October (AKI) – Italy’s top court, the Constitutional Court decided that a law granting immunity to Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi violated the constitution and is thus illegal.

In September, the state attorney said if the law was deemed unconstitutional, Berlusconi could be unable to govern. «It could damage to electoral functions that would not be able to be carried out with due commitment, it could also cause resignations and, in any case, it would cause irreparable damage,» the state attorney said. The ruling comes two days after Berlusconi was declared to be jointly responsible for a corruption conviction against his holding company Fininvest in a 1991 battle to buy publisher Mondadori and will have to pay more than 1.1 billion dollars in compensation.(quoted from http://www.adnkronos.com).

Will something change? The top court decision can have the effect to put an end to Mr. Berlusconi government (hopefully). But the true question is what Italians will do. Have they changed their mind about the premier? Will they go on supporting him?

Should this happen the only chance will be to focus on child education in order get some result al least in next generation

Are all men equal before law?

On October 3,2009, the ruling of the Milan Law Court was recorded in the civil action filed by CIR, against Fininvest for damages caused by the corruption of a judge in the Mondadori affair (Lodo Mondadori). The judgement, which is enforceable, rules that:

«CIR has the right to receive compensation from Fininvest for the patrimonial damage from the “missed opportunity” of an impartial verdict, which can be quantified in the sum of euro 749,955,611.93;

CIR also has the right to receive compensation from Fininvest for the damage of a non-patrimonial nature suffered in the same affair. The settlement of these damages will be made in a separate ruling (quoted from CIR website http://www.cirgroup.com/press/press-releases/document/comunicato-stampa-cir.html) »

It took almost twenty years to De Benedetti Family holding to have justice in civil court. Moreover the story is likely to continue since Fininvest is appealing the decision and intends to request a suspension of the court decision. But even getting a sentence is not enough in Italy to claim justice have been restored. Does anybody remember about Europa 7?

It is an Italian television channel owned by Centro Europa 7 s.r.l. Europa 7 runs TV syndication in various areas of Italy. In 1997, Europa 7 attempted for the first time to broadcast nationwide. It was unable to do so because the frequencies legally assigned to Europa 7 were used by Rete 4, one of the three TV channels owned by Silvio Berlusconi, a media tycoon and the current Prime Minister of Italy. The Italian Constitutional Court and the Supreme European Court have subsequently asserted Europa 7’s full legal rights to operate.

Furthermore in 2003 Berlusconi government submitted a law proposal to regulate digital and analogical broadcasting. This law would have allowed Rete 4 to keep the frequencies former assigned to Italia 7. Italian President of Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi rejected the law. In 2004 a new law was approved that blocked the assignment of analogical frequencies, waiting for accomplishment of transition from analogical to digital broadcasting.

Europa 7 continue to be the center of judicial and political dispute in Italy. If you were the founder of Europa 7, would you say that all men are equal before justice in Italy?