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Silvio Berlusconi
Italian media magnate and prime minister

Silvio Berlusconi

Italian media magnate and prime minister

Silvio Berlusconi, (born September 29, 1936, Milan, Italy), Italian media tycoon who served three times as prime minister of Italy (1994, 2001–06, and 2008–11).

Early life and first term as prime minister



Second and third terms and scandals



In 2009 Berlusconi became embroiled in sex scandals, including allegations of involvement with a teenage model. Amid the furor, Berlusconi’s second wife, Veronica Lario, filed for divorce, though the prime minister had denied any improper behaviour and blamed his political enemies for spreading malicious rumours. Later that year Italy’s Constitutional Court struck down a 2008 law that had granted the prime minister immunity from prosecution while in office. The ruling meant that Berlusconi could be tried on outstanding corruption and tax-fraud charges before his term ended. Continuing disagreements between Berlusconi and Gianfranco Fini, president of Italy’s Chamber of Deputies, caused Fini and his supporters to leave the PdL in July 2010. Nevertheless, Berlusconi’s government survived parliamentary votes of confidence in August, September, and December, though the last was by a margin of only three votes in the lower house. In February 2011 he was ordered to stand trial for allegedly soliciting sex from a 17-year-old prostitute and abusing his power in the subsequent cover-up. The trial opened in April 2011, but it was promptly adjourned, as the Italian constitutional court considered whether the case against Berlusconi would be allowed to proceed.

While Italy’s economy floundered amid the euro zone debt crisis, Berlusconi’s behaviour, especially his public feud with finance minister Giulio Tremonti, began to directly affect the country’s international standing. Citing a lack of political will to reform the economy, in September 2011 the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut Italy’s sovereign credit rating and downgraded its economic outlook to negative. Berlusconi experienced a brief uptick in domestic popularity in October 2011—with even opposition politicians rallying to his defense—when German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French Pres. Nicolas Sarkozy publicly expressed doubt about Berlusconi’s ability to enact substantive economic reforms. On November 8, 2011, Berlusconi effectively lost his majority in parliament on a budget vote that was widely interpreted as an unofficial vote of confidence. Umberto Bossi, head of the Northern League, Berlusconi’s main coalition partner, urged the embattled prime minister to step down. That same day, after meeting with Italian Pres. Giorgio Napolitano, Berlusconi announced that he would resign as soon as parliament approved his proposed budget reforms. Final approval came on November 12, and Berlusconi resigned hours later.

Silvio Berlusconi
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