Political career of Silvio Berlusconi

The political career of Silvio Berlusconi (1994–2011) began in 1994, when Berlusconi entered politics for the first time serving intermittent terms as Prime Minister of Italy from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011, his career was racked with controversies and trials; amongst these was his failure to honour his promise to sell his personal assets in Mediaset, the largest television broadcaster network in Italy, in order to dispel any perceived conflicts of interest.

On 26 January 1994, Berlusconi announced his decision to "enter the field", presenting his own political party, Forza Italia, on a platform focused on protecting Italy from "the Communists".

His political aim was to convince the voters of the Pentapartito, (i.e. the usual five governing parties) who were shocked and confused by Mani Pulite scandals, that Forza Italia offered both novelty and the continuation of the pro-western free market policies followed by Italy since the end of the 2nd World War.

Shortly after he decided to enter the political arena, investigators into the Mani Pulite affair were said to be close to issuing warrants for the arrest of Berlusconi and senior executives of his business group.

During his years of political career Berlusconi has maintained that the Mani Pulite investigations were led by communist prosecutors who wanted to establish a soviet-style government in Italy.

[2][3] In order to win the March 1994 general election Berlusconi formed two separate electoral alliances: Pole of Freedoms (Polo delle Libertà) with the Lega Nord (Northern League) in northern Italian districts, and another, the Pole of Good Government (Polo del Buon Governo), with the post-fascist National Alliance (Alleanza Nazionale; heir to the Italian Social Movement) in central and southern regions.

In December 1994, following the communication of a new investigation from Milan magistrates that was leaked to the press, Umberto Bossi, leader of the Lega Nord, left the coalition claiming that the electoral pact had not been respected, forcing Berlusconi to resign from office and shifting the majority's weight to the centre-left side.

Lega Nord also resented the fact that many of its MPs had switched to Forza Italia, allegedly lured by promises of more prestigious portfolios.

[6] In 2001, Berlusconi again ran as leader of the centre-right coalition House of Freedoms (Italian: La Casa delle Libertà), which included the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats, the Lega Nord, the National Alliance and other parties.

On the television programme Porta a Porta, during the last days of the electoral campaign, Berlusconi created a powerful impression on the public by undertaking to sign a Contratto con gli Italiani (English: Contract with the Italians), an idea apparently conceived by his advisor Luigi Crespi and inspired by Newt Gingrich's Contract with America introduced six weeks before the 1994 US Congressional election,[7] which was widely considered to be a creative masterstroke in his 2001 campaign bid for election.

In addition, Berlusconi promised to raise the minimum monthly pension rate to €516; and that he would suppress the crime wave by introducing police officers to patrol all local zones and areas in Italy's major cities.

A key point required by the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (and to a lesser extent by National Alliance) for their continued support was that the strong focus on tax reduction central to the government's ambitions be changed.

Operating under a new electoral law written unilaterally by the governing parties over strong criticism from the parliamentary opposition the April 2006 general election was held.

Forza Italia, the National Alliance party of Gianfranco Fini, and the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats of Pier Ferdinando Casini all seemed interested in the project.

On 2 December 2006, during a major demonstration of the centre-right in Rome against the government led by Romano Prodi, Silvio Berlusconi proposed the foundation of a "Freedom Party", stressing that the people and the voters of the different political movements adhering to the demonstration were all part of a "people of freedom".On 18 November 2007, after claiming the collection of more than seven million signatures (including Umberto Bossi's) demanding the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano to call a fresh election,[14] Silvio Berlusconi announced from the running board of a car in a crowded Piazza San Babila in Milan[15] that Forza Italia would have soon merged or transformed into The People of Freedom party.

[20][21][22] After the sudden fall of the Prodi II Cabinet on 24 January, the break-up of The Union coalition and the subsequent political crisis (which paved the way for a fresh general election in April 2008), Berlusconi, Gianfranco Fini and other party leaders finally agreed on 8 February 2008 to form a joint list named The People of Freedom (Italian: Il Popolo della Libertà), allied with the Northern League of Umberto Bossi and with the Sicilian Movement for Autonomy of Raffaele Lombardo.

His declared top priorities were to remove piles of rubbish from the streets of Naples and to improve the state of the Italian economy, which had underperformed the rest of the Eurozone for years.

[27][28][29] Between 2009-10 Gianfranco Fini, former leader of the conservative National Alliance (AN) and President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, became a vocal critic of the leadership of Berlusconi.

[32] On 29 July 2010 the party executive released a document in which Fini was described as "incompatible" with the political line of the PdL and unable to perform his job of President of the Chamber of Deputies in a neutral way.

On 7 November, during a convention in Bastia Umbra, Fini asked Berlusconi to step down from his post of prime minister and proposed a new government including the Union of the Centre (UdC).

[50] Many believed that the problems and doubts over Berlusconi's leadership and his coalition were one of the factors that contributed to market anxieties over an imminent Italian financial disaster, which could have a potentially catastrophic effect on the 17 Eurozone countries and the world economy as a whole.

[50] Umberto Bossi, leader of the Northern League, a partner in Berlusconi's right-wing coalition, was quoted as informing reporters outside Parliament, "We asked the Prime Minister to step aside.

"[53] On 12 November 2011, after a final meeting with his cabinet, Berlusconi met Italian president Giorgio Napolitano at the Quirinal Palace to tender his resignation.

[58] President Giorgio Napolitano issued a statement saying that Berlusconi had "demonstrated to the head of state his understanding of the implications of the vote in the chamber of deputies.

[61] Monti accepted the offer and initiated talks with leaders of Italy's political parties, stating that he wished to form a government that would remain in office until the next scheduled elections in 2013.