by Federica Pascale and Sarantis Michalopoulos
Silvio Berlusconi has once again caused turmoil in Italian politics after it was revealed that he exchanged “sweet” letters with his long-time “true” friend, Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The scandal has exposed the leadership of the EU centre-right, which guaranteed Berlusconi’s pro-European credentials just before the elections, while also causing new headaches for Giorgia Meloni, who is struggling to form a government.
“I have re-established relations with President Putin a little, actually a lot”, Forza Italia leader Berlusconi said at a closed-door meeting with his deputies amid tough talks in Rome over the formation of a new government.
“For my birthday, he sent me twenty bottles of vodka and a very sweet letter, and I replied with bottles of Lambrusco and an equally sweet letter. He [Putin] described me as the first of his five true friends”, he said according to an audio file published by LaPresse.
Asked by journalists for an explanation, Berlusconi said his comments referred to a historical episode and denied a resumption of relations with Putin. Still, the audio file had already caused him damage.
The re-connection of the two old friends primarily worries Brothers of Italy leader and highly likely next prime minister Meloni, who, according to press reports, envisages the Justice Ministry for Forza Italia and the Foreign Ministry to Antonio Tajani, also a Forza Italia member.
Discontent in the EPP
Berlusconi’s statement not only derails Meloni’s efforts to form a government but also exposes his political family in Brussels, the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP).
During the election campaign, EPP president Manfred Weber had invited Italians to vote for Forza Italia to guarantee its pro-European orientation.
“It is very clear that (the centre-right coalition) is in favour of the European integration, reiterates transatlantic cooperation with our American friends, the role in NATO and European values”, Weber said during his stay in Rome before the 25 September election.
Since then, Berlusconi has been proving the opposite. A couple of weeks ago, he said, “Putin only had to replace Zelensky’s government with a government of decent people” and that “Russian troops should only have stopped around Kyiv”.
In his fresh statements, he stressed that “Russian ministers have said that we are already at war with them because we supply arms and funding to Ukraine. I am very, very, very worried”.
According to the head of the Partido Democratico delegation in the EU House, MEP Brando Benifei, it is clear that the long-standing friendship between Berlusconi and Putin is still strong and threatens the new Italian government as well as Europe itself.
In an interview with EURACTIV before the elections, Iratxe Garcia, the leader of the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D), had warned that Meloni’s extreme-right government would damage EU foreign policy.
“That would further undermine our EU founding values of equality, democracy and rule of law, and it would weaken the unity and solidarity we now so much need in the face of Putin’s aggression due to their nationalist agenda”, Garcia said.
An EPP source, who spoke to EURACTIV on condition of anonymity, explained that Berlusconi’s pro-Russia statement all this period had caused “discontent” in the EU centre-right family, especially among the EU lawmakers dealing with external affairs.
“The issue will hardly be on the party’s agenda, but in the corridors and bilateral exchanges, some MEPs have expressed their shock”, the EPP source said.
Ruining Meloni’s narrative
Critics in Rome suggest that these statements are not a coincidence and mainly target Meloni, who recently “laughed in his face”, as Berlusconi admitted when the latter asked for more strategic ministries of weight for Forza Italia.
“The desperate here is Meloni, who is trying to fix things with Brussels and Washington, and the old boy is destroying everything”, an S&D source told EURACTIV.
According to the source, this reaction could be attributed to a “personality issue” than politics itself.
“Berlusconi wants to show that he is still in the centre of decision-making […] he simply cannot digest that he is not anymore”, the source noted, adding that other Forza Italia members such as Antonio Tajani cannot follow Berlusconi on this rhetoric.
In an ironic comment, the S&D source said, “We should all show solidarity” with Meloni as it won’t be an easy task to lead the country with Lega’s Matteo Salvini and Berlusconi “, but she chose this path”.
*first published in: Euractiv.com
By: N. Peter Kramer
