The Return of Berlusconi
April 15th, 2008 at 04:06am Mark Noonan
Good thing for Italy, for America and for the world:
Media billionaire Silvio Berlusconi won a decisive victory Monday in Italy’s parliamentary election, setting the colorful conservative and staunch U.S. ally on course to his third stint as premier.
The victory in voting Sunday and Monday by parties supporting the 71-year-old Berlusconi avenged his loss two years ago to a center-left coalition.
“I’m moved. I feel a great responsibility,” he said in a phone call to RAI public television while monitoring election results at his villa outside Milan. Italian news agencies said he had a private dinner with key aides.
Berlusconi capitalized on discontent over Italy’s stagnating economy and the unpopularity of Romano Prodi’s government.
Prodi, to the cheers of the global left, withdrew Italy’s contingent from Iraq after defeating Berlusconi - and while Berlusconi will not send Italian troops back in, having this staunch US ally in charge of Italy will make all sorts of things easier, especially with NATO issues and Afghanistan.
UPDATE: Michael Ledeen over at NRO’s The Corner notes that the Communist Party failed to win a single seat in Italy’s new parlaiment - this is a stunning rejection of the far left, and the very surprising end to what was one of the most powerful communist parties in the free world. Back when I was in Italy in the 1980’s, the communists were very strong and there was some thought that they might, one day, even capture the government via votes. All gone now - and good riddance.
Entry Filed under: Foreign Affairs, War on Terror
4 Comments
1. Kurt | April 15th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Hey, wait a minute! I thought the world hates us.
2. Magnum Serpentine | April 15th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
And in the next election in Italy, the Communist might just win every seat. then the next election after that, the right wing party might win, then the next election after that the Far left might win, then the next election after that the Centralist might win.
My point is that Italian politics is UNSTABLE!!! No one party has controlled Parliament for more than a dozen years at the max. Mark you may be cheering a bit too soon, next time the other side might come back.
3. Freedom1 | April 15th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Heh. Heh. Yes!
4. Brian (Boston) | April 15th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Having just voted in the Italian election on Sunday and I am still here in Roma, Berlusconi’s party received less votes than in 2006. He created a new party and his new coalition took in more votes, especially Lega Nord (Northern League). Lega Nord wants the North to separate from the rest of Italy, and if they cannot separate they want to change how tax money is divided amongst the regions. They want a 1 to 1 use of the tax money. So the poorer South would not receive any additional help in terms of tax money.
The Left had a new party this time around also, but the coalition did not include the 5 or so parties from 2006. If they did, they would have won the election. Also, the rules for how seats are divided up changed in 2006, which hurts the smaller parties.
Berlusconi won primary in a few issues, making the maximum tax bracket 33%, removing the tax from primary residences and eliminating the fee paid each year on each auto.
It will be interesting to see how he handles the failing Alitalia crisis and what he will do with the economy.