Silvio Berlusconi ist ein italienischer Politiker und Unternehmer. Er war viermal Ministerpräsident Italiens sowie übergangsweise Außen-, Wirtschafts- und Gesundheitsminister. Von 1994 bis 2013 war Berlusconi Mitglied der italienischen Abgeordnetenkammer. Von März bis November 2013 gehörte er dem Senat an. Seit der Europawahl 2019 ist er Mitglied des Europäischen Parlaments.
Berlusconi ist Eigentümer des Konzerns Fininvest. Laut Forbes-Liste 2018 ist er mit einem Vermögen von 6,7 Milliarden US-Dollar einer der reichsten Italiener. Von 1986 bis 2004 und von 2006 bis 2008 war er außerdem Präsident des Fußballvereins AC Mailand.
1993 gründete Berlusconi die Partei Forza Italia, die 2009 zusammen mit der Alleanza Nazionale, einem langjährigen Verbündeten seiner Partei, in der auf seine Initiative gegründeten Partei Il Popolo della Libertà aufging. Auf dem Gründungsparteitag wurde er am 29. März 2009 zu deren Vorsitzenden gewählt. Am 12. November 2011 trat Berlusconi bisher letztmals von seinem Amt als Ministerpräsident Italiens zurück; sein Nachfolger wurde Mario Monti. Am 16. November 2013 ließ Berlusconi den PdL wieder in Forza Italia umbenennen, nachdem sich eine PdL-Gruppierung aus der Regierung Enrico Lettas unter der Führung von Angelino Alfano Berlusconi in den Weg gestellt und bereits am 15. November 2013 die Partei Nuovo Centrodestra als Abspaltung der PdL gegründet hatte.
In der Öffentlichkeit ist Berlusconi neben seiner politischen Laufbahn durch Affären und Bunga-Bunga-Partys bekannt. Vor italienischen Gerichten sind mehrere Verfahren gegen ihn anhängig. Am 1. August 2013 wurde er wegen Steuerbetrugs rechtskräftig verurteilt und infolgedessen mit einem sechsjährigen Verbot der Bekleidung öffentlicher Ämter belegt. Das Verbot wurde am 12. Mai 2018 vorzeitig aufgehoben.Nach Berlusconi ist der Berlusconismus benannt, eine Form des Populismus in Italien.
Italienische Medien gaben Berlusconi die Spitznamen Il Cavaliere , was sich auf den ihm 1977 durch einen Arbeitsverdienstorden verliehenen Titel Cavaliere del Lavoro bezieht, und Il Caimano , womit sie den metaphorischen Titel eines satirischen Films von Nanni Moretti aus dem Jahr 2006 aufgriffen. Wikipedia
“Mussolini never killed anyone, he just sent dissenters abroad for vacation.”
As quoted in La voce di Rimini (11 September 2003) <br class="br">Variant translation: He never killed anyone, he sent people on holiday to confine them. <br class="br"> "Did I say This? in The Observer (20 April 2008) http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/apr/20/italy <br class="br">2003
On public school, in Adoptions, gay couples and public school in la Repubblica (1 March 2011) http://www.repubblica.it/politica/2011/02/26/news/berlusconi_rafforza-12922793/index.html <br class="br">2011
“Foreign press is usually leftist and describes us differently from what we really are.”
Speech to the association Azzurri nel mondo, Lugano (24 October 2004)
2004
Addressing the commander of the special italian police corp, Guardia di Finanza, whose job is to fight financial fraud and tax evasion in November of 2003, quoted in la Repubblica (17 febbraio 2004) http://www.repubblica.it/2004/b/sezioni/politica/cdlverifica2/candida/candida.html <br class="br">2003
At a rally in Naples (28 March 2006) as quoted in "In quotes: Berlusconi in his own words" at BBC News (2 May 2006) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3041288.stm <br class="br">2006
“By definition, as a Prime Minister I cannot be a liar.”
Italian Radio National Broadcast (18 January 2006)
2006
“Let's talk about football and women. … Gerhard, why don't you start?”
At the Brussels summit, turning to the four-times-married German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, at the end of Italy's EU presidency, in December 2003, as quoted in "In quotes: Berlusconi in his own words" at BBC News (2 May 2006) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3041288.stm <br class="br">2003
“Barack Obama being young, handsome and sun-tanned is going to get along with you swimmingly.”
On the US president-elect to Dmitry Medvedev, as quoted in 'Italy's Berlusconi hails "suntanned" Obama' in Reuters (6 November 2008) http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE4A562120081106, "Berlusconi faces race row as he calls America's first black president 'suntanned'" in Mail on Sunday (6 November 2008) http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1083664/Berlusconi-faces-race-row-calls-Americas-black-president-suntanned.html <br class="br">2008
As quoted in "Did I say This? in The Observer (20 April 2008)
2008
Denying the heaviness of the Italian crisis, during the news conference after the end of the G20 summit held in Cannes (3-4 November 2011), as reported in "Napolitano ammonisce: attuare impegni. Premier: la crisi non c'è, ristoranti pieni" in Il Messaggero (4 November 2011) http://www.ilmessaggero.it/articolo.php?id=168779&sez=HOME_INITALIA&ssez=POLITICA, and "Silvio Berlusconi shrugs off IMF's financial checks on Italy. Prime minister insists Italy is in good health, with debts under control, and points to full restaurants as proof of strength" in The Guardian (4 November 2011) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/04/silvio-berlusconi-imf-italy <br class="br">2011
“I'm a man of honour, a truthful person, a gentleman of absolute morality.”
As quoted in "La Repubblica" (13 July 2003)
2003
['New Milan manager must play two strikers,' says Silvio Berlusconi http://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/jul/20/milan-silvio-berlusconi], July 20, 2010.
2010
On the TV program L'infedele, called in during the show, reported in Berlusconi insults Lerner live: you run a brothel program, in Repubblica (25 January 2011) http://www.repubblica.it/politica/2011/01/24/news/berlusconi_lerner-11616866/ <br class="br">2011
“The public prosecutor … should be subject to regular examinations to attest to sanity.”
Calling for psychiatric examinations in regard to the life sentence of the Mafia-member Vittorio Mangano, whom Senator Marcello Dell'Utri, called a hero, as reported in 'Berlusconi: "Perizie per i pm" Dell'Utri: "Mangano un eroe" 'in la Repubblica (8 April 2008) http://www.repubblica.it/2008/04/sezioni/politica/verso-elezioni-18/berlusconi-toghe/berlusconi-toghe.html <br class="br">2007
“The left has always been on the wrong side. They were against Hitler, but not against Stalin.”
Quoted in la Repubblica (3 February 2005)
2005
Quoted in Corriere della Sera (17 January 2005)
2005
Speaking at his party's convention in Sardinia (28 January 2006), as reported in Il Giornale (29 January 2006) <br class="br">Variant translation: I'll try not to let you down and I promise you two and a half months of complete sexual abstinence until election day. <br class="br">As reported in "Did I say This? in The Observer (20 April 2008) http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/apr/20/italy <br class="br">2006
As quoted in "Did I say This? in The Observer (20 April 2008)
2008
On Italy, as reported in "Italy on 'edge of abyss', says Silvio Berlusconi, offering a hand" in The Guardian (9 December 2012) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/09/italy-edge-abyss-silvio-berlusconi <br class="br">2012
