Who saw the speech live on TV Silvio Berlusconi at the Forza Italia convention on Saturday 6 May, he could not fail to notice that it was practically contemporary with the coronation of King Charles. A screen divided in half with an official accession to the throne on one side (of an over seventy year old) and on the other an abdication beginning. Berlusconi’s video was recorded on Friday at theSan Raffaele Hospital where the leader of Forza Italia was still hospitalized. These circumstances make them a very different speech from the others given by the former prime minister over the years.
The illness
Impossible not to notice it. “Here I am, I’m here for you. For the first time in a month, with a shirt and jacket», to tell that Berlusconi has been really ill in recent weeks. Even if he has been out of intensive care for days, the disease is evident, despite Berlusconi smiling, the suffering is there: the make-up is heavy, he stops to drink, his voice is not strong and he stops.
The Saviour
There is a touch of humanity in this speech in which he says he woke up at San Raffaele without knowing he had arrived there. «My Marta who watched over me replies “you are here because you have worked so hard, perhaps too much, you are working hard to save our democracy and our freedom”». This trait of humanity serves to tell how Berlusconi would like to be remembered: Italy’s savior at the end of the first Republic and still today. «In recent weeks I have felt the affection of many people who have given me a lot of strength. I knew that an important task awaits us and awaits me. That’s why I never stopped, I worked on the new party organization and now I’m ready to go back to work”.
The legacy
Even if he doesn’t talk about the future, Berlusconi seems to want to leave a legacy by recalling the foundations of his party as if it weren’t linked to his presence (as many think and part of the rank and file fears): a party “that is the continuer and interpreter of the liberal tradition , Christian, guarantor, pro-European and atlantist” against the “communist-professionals of politics”. He concludes thus: «You will see that the Italians will consider us the lay saints of their freedom and well-being». The invitation is to move forward.
The allies
Berlusconi says that Forza Italia is “the backbone of a coalition that we created in 1994 and which for us represents history, the present, and above all the future”. There is friendship and work with the others, but the root, he reiterates, is Forza Italia.
I fly over Moscow
Great Putin does not enter the speech. The friend is not mentioned and neither is the conflict in Ukraine. The enemy is identified in Chinese imperialism. And then a bit of the programme: an increase in pensions as he has been repeating for months, a reduction in the tax burden below 40%, an increase in infrastructure and, for Europe, decisions taken with a qualified majority and an EU military policy with a emergency intervention of at least 300,000 men”.
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Source: Vanity Fair
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