Brussels, Silvio Berlusconi, an Italian politician who has made comebacks from political, legal, personal and even health woes, is to relaunch his career by running as a candidate in the forthcoming European Parliament election, his party said on Thursday.
The four-times Prime Minister of Italy and leader of centre-right populist Forza Italia which belongs to the European People’s Party (EPP) had informed them in October that he planned to put himself forward for the polls, to be held between May 23-26, the group told Efe news.
“Personal opinions aside and without considering events that have taken place in recent years, we are talking about someone who has governed on three occasions and who can recover centre-right votes in Italy,” said EPP Secretary General Antonio López Istúriz.
“At the moment those in power are the far right and far left. Let’s hope Berlusconi and the Christian-Democrats can reverse the situation and restore Italian politics for Europe, which is currently in the hands of Salvini (leader of the Northern League) and Luigi di Maio (head of the Five Star Movement),” he said.
Berlusconi was rated as Italy’s fifth-richest businessman, according to Forbes magazine. Party sources suggested that the media mogul’s campaign would no doubt be peppered with controversy and would draw a lot of media attention.
Antonio Tajani, the European Parliament President and deputy President of Forza Italia, congratulated Berlusconi on Twitter: “Excellent news on the candidacy of Berlusconi the European! I was sure that he would be on the field once again to defend the freedom and the right of the citizens to have a job and not to be harassed by unfair taxes!”
Berlusconi has kept a low profile over the last few months but has posted on Twitter several times to outline his agenda for Europe which would involve reinforcing economic and fiscal cohesion within the bloc, pushing for a banking union as well as harmonizing foreign policy and building an European Army and common defence policy.
Berlusconi, considered by many as a controversial heavyweight on Italy’s political scene, was a member of the European Parliament between 1999-2001. He was Italian Prime Minister for nine years during which he was convicted of tax fraud and handed a four-year prison sentence, three of which were pardoned immediately.
He was barred from public office for two years. At the time of his conviction in August 2013, he was over 70, so instead of going to prison he was forced to do community work for a year.
Berlusconi was also involved in a sex scandal for his infamous “bunga bunga” parties that led to him being charged with using underage sex workers, although he was later found not guilty on appeal.
