 | sdrummelo |
| | Salve a tutti... cercando di salvaguardare l'apolitictà del forum (del forum!!! non dei suoi singoli utenti!) chiedo scusa se il mio post sembrerà troppo propagandistico... si tratta semplicemente di articoli di giornali europei (domani ne pubblicherò altri.. il tempo di leggerli un pò..  ) che commentano le "nostre" elezioni e il nostro premier "nuovo di zecca"... Sono spinto a questo dai commenti che mi trovo quotidianamente ad ascoltare tra i miei conoscenti all'estero... vi assicuro che è molto umiliante essre il rappresentante in terra straniera della nostra classe politica e del nostro Paese in generale... ed essere poi considerati alla stregua di questo "signore"... è ancor peggio...  PS: se trovate degli articoli di giornale della stampa estera che esaltano l'appeal e la bravura di berlusconi e gioiscono per la sua elezione, pubblicateli pure... io questi li ho trovati cercando a caso sui principali quotidiani europei ed americani!!! PPS: ora sono stanco.. ma domani vi pubblico la traduzione delle parti in grassetto.. per il resto.. arrangiatevi =P (magari provate con il google translator... non so che risultati possa dare) ) da: LE MONDE | 16.04.08
Silvio Berlusconi, mauvaise nouvelle pour l'Europe
Si l'Union européenne (UE) espérait une période d'unité après le traumatisme du traité de Lisbonne, la réélection de Silvio Berlusconi en Italie constitue potentiellement une mauvaise nouvelle.
Le retour de M. Berlusconi laisse augurer des dissensions majeures au sein de la zone euro. Pendant la campagne électorale, il a été facile pour lui d'exploiter la désillusion des Italiens face à la monnaie unique, faisant porter sur les épaules de la Banque centrale européenne (BCE) la responsabilité des malheurs de l'économie italienne.
C'est vrai que l'Italie est durement frappée par la hausse des taux et l'euro fort. Mais les hommes politiques italiens ne sont pas au-dessus de tout reproche, à commencer par M. Berlusconi, qui, dix ans après l'entrée en vigueur de l'euro, n'a toujours pas commencé à faire les réformes fiscales et structurelles nécessaires pour améliorer la flexibilité de l'économie. Sur le plan industriel, il a sapé la vente de la compagnie Alitalia à Air France-KLM avec des arrière-pensées politiciennes flagrantes.
La demande que la BCE soit sous contrôle politique n'a aucune chance de devenir réalité. Les Allemands ne le permettront pas. En attendant, M. Berlusconi peut utiliser la BCE comme croque-mitaine afin de trouver des excuses pour repousser les réformes. Cela ne fera que prolonger les difficultés économiques et les demandes de l'Italie de quitter l'euro.
La politique économique n'est pas la seule source de discorde entre M. Berlusconi et ses collègues européens. La sécurité énergétique est l'un des sujets les plus urgents de l'UE, le but étant de réduire la dépendance au gaz russe. Cela nécessite une politique européenne coordonnée. Difficile lorsque des pays comme l'Allemagne ont tissé des liens unilatéraux avec la Russie. Mais personne n'a de liens plus étroits avec Moscou que M. Berlusconi. Hors d'Italie, une personne se félicite vraiment de son retour : elle siège au Kremlin.
Simon Nixon
da The Guardian, Wednesday April 16 2008
A victory for threats, media muscle and patronage
The return to power of the Italian mogul who likened me to Lenin should alarm anyone who cares about democracy
Bill Emmott
You have to admit the man has talent. Silvio Berlusconi's triumph in Italy's general election, to win a third spell as prime minister - at the age of 71 and less than two years after his defeated five-year government had left Italy as the slowest growing economy of western Europe - is quite remarkable. It is testimony to his resilience but also to a campaign full of jokes and provocations. His victory should, however, be deeply troubling for anyone who cares about democracy.
For in addition to his undoubted personal appeal, Berlusconi had some powerful advantages. He is Italy's richest man by far, enjoying a near monopoly of commercial television, a big publishing empire, and lots of other interests. Such a domination of the broadcast media by a party leader would be considered an unacceptable infringement of democracy in any other west European country. In fact, if Italy were a candidate for EU membership, such concentration of power would be an obstacle. Since it was a founder member in 1957, neither governments nor the European commission dare raise this issue.
As an opposition candidate, ownership of all the commercial TV channels, bar the weak La7 channel and the cooperatively rightwing Sky Italia, helped Berlusconi enormously. In government his advantage is even greater, for he can, did and will exploit Italy's tradition of political interference in the Rai public broadcasting system. An important reason why he lost so narrowly in 2006, despite his government being widely considered a failure, is that he essentially controlled the entire TV news output. During the campaign such fears cannot have been absent from the minds of every Rai political reporter and commentator who wants to stay in a job.
I should disclose at this point that there is history between me and Berlusconi. In 2001, when I was editor of the Economist and another Italian election was imminent, we conducted a long investigation into his finances and his many legal entanglements. As a result of that investigation, and aware of his conflict of interest as a media owner, we declared him on our cover to be "unfit to govern Italy". Half of Italy vilified the Economist for that cover and the other half beatified us. The still victorious Berlusconi branded us "communist", correctly pointed out my resemblance to Lenin, and presented us with the first of two libel suits, which are still rumbling their way through the Italian courts.
The notoriety that this brought was good fun. But behind it lay some serious issues. Berlusconi's defenders say that there is plenty of competition in the Italian media, so his TV ownership doesn't matter. Of course it does, for TV is far more powerful than print, but Berlusconi also uses a mixture of lawsuits, patronage and threats to intimidate Italian journalists.
His defenders argue, moreover, that he has never been found guilty of any legal charges. This is blatantly untrue, but he has been saved by the statute of limitations and by the way his own government in 2001-06 shortened those limits and decriminalised the false accounting with which he was charged. Berlusconi should be a cautionary tale for us all about what happens when you allow one man to dominate the media, and when the interests of big business and of government become intertwined.
But what will happen now? Berlusconi has won a more decisive victory than most pundits expected, and will govern in a coalition with the Northern League, an anti-immigrant and regional-rights party that was the election's other big winner. His government can be expected to last rather longer than its weak centre-left predecessor. The party representation in Italy's parliament has been simplified drastically thanks to this election, which is surely a good thing. But with no communist or socialist representatives - for the first time since 1946 - there is some danger that extra-parliamentary activism will break out in response to the new government's programme.
Italy does have law courts and a president to act as constitutional checks on the government, so there is some hope of restraint - even though during the campaign Berlusconi proposed menacingly that all prosecutors and judges should be given sanity tests. His government is likely to be corporatist rather than free market, at least on the evidence of a campaign in which he promised to block the sale of the near-bankrupt Alitalia to Air France-KLM. That intervention and any new state aid will bring him into conflict with the European commission; and a likely increase in Italy's budget deficit - thanks to his promised tax cuts and spending rises - will bring him into conflict with other member governments.
In which case, the important thing is that they stand up to him. Neither Gordon Brown nor any other European leader should repeat the disgraceful toadying to Berlusconi that was exhibited by Tony Blair, which showed that this supposed idealist had no principles at all. They will have to treat the Italian prime minister with the diplomatic politeness that is due any head of an EU government, but should go no further than that. Brown's holidays would be far better spent in Dorset than Sardinia.
· Bill Emmott da The New York Times, April 16, 2008
Mr. Berlusconi’s Comeback
The master showman of Italian politics, Silvio Berlusconi, is back for a third term as prime minister. His victory owes little to his past, shockingly meager achievements in office. At a time when Italy is enveloped in economic and political gloom, he won with promises of a painless path to renewed prosperity.
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Additional commentary, background information and other items by Times editorial writers.
With the remnants of the departing center-left coalition offering austerity and sobriety and Mr. Berlusconi proposing tax cuts and good times, it was really no contest. The billionaire owner of media and sports businesses also got a major boost from his unsettling partnership with the populist, immigrant-bashing Northern League.
Mr. Berlusconi’s flamboyant lifestyle and outsized personality would likely not play well on this side of the Atlantic. Still, aspects of the campaign echoed American politics in striking — and in some cases embarrassing — ways. The Northern League produced a shameful poster showing a sad-looking Native American in a feathered headdress and these words of warning: “They were not able to regulate immigration — now they live on reservations — think about them.” Walter Veltroni, the former mayor of Rome who was the main center-left opponent, did less well trying to emulate Barack Obama’s appeal with the rough Italian equivalent of: “Yes, we can.”
Italy has real problems, which all parties did their best to avoid addressing. These include faltering competitiveness, unsustainable fiscal deficits, broken governmental services (Naples is choking on uncollected garbage), corruption and a bureaucracy that wastes unbelievable amounts of everyone’s time and money. Italians generally work as hard as their neighbors but end up with significantly smaller financial rewards.
What the country desperately needs is a sustained attack on tax evasion, unjustified public subsidies, over-regulation and a deeply ingrained culture of political and business corruption. That may be a lot to ask from a man whose private business dealings have repeatedly drawn prosecutors’ attention but no convictions.
Mr. Berlusconi’s first two terms were disappointingly weak on reform. Italy needs him to do better this time.da The New York Times, April 16, 2008
Berlusconi "Wants More EU Influence"
ROME (Reuters) - Italian prime minister-elect Silvio Berlusconi said on Wednesday he would help the EU regain the influence he said it had lost since he was last in power and called for the European Central Bank's mandate to be broadened.
Speaking on one of his own television channels after winning Italy's April 13-14 election, Berlusconi said the EU needed a "top leadership squad" to make it count in the world.
"There is a need to reconstruct a Europe that has a leading role in the Western world that can tackle with determination the problems facing the world," said the 71-year-old conservative media mogul, who is expected to take office next month.
In later comments that could anger some of Italy's European Union partners, for whom ECB independence is sacrosanct, Berlusconi said its mandate should be widened beyond keeping inflation in check. He did not specify what he meant, but in the past he has urged the central bank to support economic growth.
Rules set out in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty give the ECB the power to pursue its primary goal of maintaining price stability free of political influence.
"I believe the ECB's functions need to be widened beyond the power to control inflation," Berlusconi told a news conference.
Italy's third-richest man and owner of AC Milan soccer club, Berlusconi said during the election campaign he wanted to "intervene" with the ECB and would discuss it with EU leaders such as France's Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany's Angela Merkel.
Sarkozy has repeatedly called for action to curb the sharp rise in the value of the euro, while Germany has vigorously defended the ECB's independence from politicians.
Berlusconi often blames the euro for the underperformance of Italy's economy, echoing the opinion of many Italians who say their spending power has waned since they gave up the lira. Exporters complain the strong euro makes them less competitive.
Berlusconi's victory had been expected to deal a final blow to the sale of loss-making Alitalia to Air France-KLM, which has been blocked by unions.
Berlusconi wants a home-grown rescue, but has left the door open to the foreign bid if Alitalia is given equal footing in any future international airline group.
ITALY ISOLATED
In his second term as premier from 2001-2006, Berlusconi was accused of isolating Italy within Europe by concentrating on relations with the United States, Russia and Israel.
Berlusconi famously made the sign of the cuckold behind a Spanish minister's head at a summit photo call, and shocked the European Parliament in July 2003 by likening a German lawmaker to a concentration camp guard.
Romano Prodi, who beat him in the 2006 election, tried to refocus on Europe in his 20 months as premier. But Prodi, the former European Commission president, was forced out of office in January when his centre-left coalition collapsed.
Berlusconi said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had invited him to London, and he had spoken to Merkel and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
Seen as a staunch ally of Washington in its "war on terror," Berlusconi said President George W. Bush had invited him to a dinner in the United States, though he did not specify a date.
Italy has around 2,400 soldiers with a U.N. peace force in Lebanon. Berlusconi said he would review the rules of engagement to let them react better to the challenges on the ground.
He also said he would set up a commission to assess the budget situation that his government would inherit from the centre-left to make sure there were "no surprises."
(Additional reporting by Giuseppe Fonte in Rome)
(Editing by Mary Gabriel)da The new York Times, April 16, 2008 Berlusconi tries to wiggle out of latest gaffe
ROME (AP) -- Even before he starts his third stint as premier, Silvio Berlusconi was trying Wednesday to defuse his latest gaffe -- a suggestion that Spain has too many women in government.
Berlusconi told an Italian radio show that he had jokingly scolded Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero for forming ''a government that in my opinion is too pink.'' Zapatero's new Cabinet has nine women and eight men.
''In Italy there is a prevalence of men in politics and therefore it is not so easy to find women who are ready for the government,'' Berlusconi told the radio station Tuesday. Berlusconi plans to have four women in his 12-member Cabinet.
The comments drew criticism in Spain, with Development Minister Magdalena Alvarez saying: ''Many of us women would refuse to work for a government that had Mr. Berlusconi as prime minister.''
Berlusconi sought to limit damage Wednesday, saying his words had been incorrectly reported.
''I have greatly appreciated the color pink in that government,'' Berlusconi told reporters. He said he would pay special attention to the actions of the Spanish government and of its female members.
''It's possible that the female members take a series of measures stemming from the everyday life, from the concrete reality of being a mother, a wife and perhaps also a working woman,'' Berlusconi said.Edited by sdrummelo - 17/4/2008, 14:01 | | | |
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