‘Immortal’ Berlusconi says he will run for European Parliament

This is an Italian language learner article. Test your vocabulary by trying to guess the Italian for the words highlighted in bold, then check the translations provided at the bottom.

Published: 17 January 2019 17:49 CET

'Immortal' Berlusconi says he will run for European Parliament

Berlusconi is making yet another comeback. Photo: ELIANO IMPERATO / AFP

Italy's scandal-plagued former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi announced today that he will run in May's European Parliament election, in yet another comeback bid for the 82-year-old billionaire.

Berlusconi, who lost out in Italy's elections last year to a far-right and populist coalition, said he wanted to inject some “deep thinking” into Europe as he announced his candidacy for the bloc's polls.

The media magnate will be a high-profile candidate to become a member of the European Parliament in the election, in which traditional parties are expected to face major challenges from far-right and eurosceptic populists.

“At my grand age, I have decided out of a sense of responsibility to head for Europe, where there is a lack of deep thinking about the future of the world,” he said at a meeting of his centre-right Forza Italia (Go Italy) party in Sardinia.

Dubbed “the immortal”, Berlusconi dominated Italian politics for more than two decades and managed to return to prominence after a long series of sex scandals, serial gaffes and legal woes.

Despite being immersed in sleaze and forced out of parliament in 2013 after a tax fraud conviction, Berlusconi made an astonishing return to lead Forza Italia into last year's general election.

But his party was outrun in the March vote by its junior ally, Matteo Salvini's far-right League, which won 17 percent compared to Forza Italia's 14 percent.

Salvini then broke the League's alliance with Berlusconi's party to form a coalition government with the Five Star Movement, becoming interior minister and deputy prime minister in the process.

Polls show the move paid off, as the League's popularity has since shot to 30 percent, while Forza Italia languishes below 10 percent.

But that has not deterred Berlusconi, who had open heart surgery in 2017 and will go on trial this year for allegedly paying a witness to give false testimony about his notorious bunga-bunga parties.

“With my knowledge, my experience and my ability to persuade, I think I can play an important role and make European citizens understand that we risk moving away from Western values,” he said on Thursday.

The onetime cruise ship singer, who has served as prime minister three times and once owned the AC Milan football club, clinched his first election victory in 1994.

He was last ousted from power in November 2011 following a parliamentary revolt against his increasingly scandal-tainted rule and a wave of panic on the financial markets that pushed Italy to the brink of default.

Vocabulary

billionaire – miliardario

last year – l'anno scorso

expected – previsto

to return – ritornare

tax fraud – frode fiscale

alliance – alleanza

surgery – chirurgia

knowledge – la sapienza

cruise ship – nave da crociera

victory – vittoria

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.