‘Once again, I got away with it’: Italy’s Berlusconi leaves hospital after Covid treatment

Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi left hospital on Monday 11 days after being admitted with coronavirus, an experience he described as perhaps "the most difficult" in his life.

Published: 14 September 2020 12:21 CEST

'Once again, I got away with it': Italy's Berlusconi leaves hospital after Covid treatment

The 83-year-old media tycoon, who tested positive for Covid-19 after returning from a holiday at his luxury villa in Sardinia, was admitted to the San Raffaele hospital in Milan on September 3rd with a lung infection.

“The first three days were extremely difficult,” he told journalists as he left the hospital.

Two of his children – daughter Barbara, 36, and son Luigi, 31 – also contracted the virus, as did his companion Marta Fascina.

“It was tough. Thank heavens, thanks to the doctors, I got over what was perhaps the most difficult ordeal of my life.”

“Once again, I seem to have got away with it!” he said, after walking slowly but without assistance to address the cameras.

Property and media magnate Berlusconi was Italian prime minister for his centre-right Forza Italia party on three occasions between

1994 and 2011.

Despite his regular brushes with the law and health problems – including open heart surgery in 2016 — the man known as “the immortal” for his

longevity in politics led the Italian right for more than two decades.

The scandal-hit billionaire had insisted this month that he would continue his political activities despite the positive virus test.

Regional elections are to be held in Italy this weekend, as well as a referendum on reducing the number of deputies in parliament.

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The strike comes after Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama — who is close to Meloni — called a top RAI editor to complain about a television report into Italy’s controversial migration deal with his country.

The Usigrai trade union called the strike from May 6 to May 7 saying talks with management had failed to address their concerns.

It cited numerous issues, including staff shortages and contract issues, but in first place was “the suffocating control over journalistic work, with the attempt to reduce RAI to a megaphone for the government”.

It had already used that phrase to object to what critics say is the increasing influence over RAI by figures close to Prime Minister Meloni, who leads Italy’s most right-wing government since World War II.

However, another union of RAI journalists, Unirai, said they would not join what they called a “political” strike, defending the return to “pluralism” at the broadcaster.

Funded in part by a licence fee and with top managers long chosen by politicians, RAI’s independence has always been an issue of debate.

But the arrival in power of Meloni — leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, who formed a coalition with Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party and the late Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing Forza Italia — redoubled concerns.

Tensions erupted at the weekend amid accusations RAI censored a speech by a leading writer criticising Meloni ahead of Liberation Day on April 25, when Italians mark the defeat of Fascism and the Nazis at the end of World War II.

Both RAI’s management and Meloni have denied censorship, and the premier posted the text of the monologue on her social media.

In another twist, Albania’s premier confirmed Thursday he called senior RAI editor Paolo Corsini about an TV report on Sunday into Italy’s plans to build two migration processing centres on Albanian territory.

Rama told La Stampa newspaper the report was “biased” and contained “lies” – adding that he had not raised the issue with Meloni.

The Report programme claimed the costs of migrant centres, which are under construction, were already “out of control” and raised questions about criminals benefiting from the project.