FORZA, SILVIO!

The extraordinary parliamentary elections held in Italy in the middle of April resulted in a resounding victory for the right-of-centre bloc led by Silvio Berlusconi. He gained about 47 per cent of the vote.

All in all, six parties will be represented in parliament, which is fewer than in previous parliaments. The disposition of forces in the parliament is as follows: Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom coalition, which includes the Forza Italia party, the Movement for Autonomy and the Northern League, won 340 seats in the lower chamber of parliament (the party which gains most votes in elections to the lower chamber automatically gains the right to take 340 of the 630 seats), while Veltroni's Democratic Party won 241 seats. In the Senate, Berlusconi's coalition will have 171 seats, while the left-of-centre Democratic Party, coupled with the Italy of Values party, will have 130 seats. As a result, there is a chance of forming a government able to remain in power for a full term. It is also important that Berlusconi's former ally in government coalition, the leader of the Centrist Union, Pier Ferdinando Casini, who ran on a separate ticket in the elections, is very close to Berlusconi and may support him in the Senate.

Meanwhile, the fierce election struggle sparked great interest among voters. This is proved by the turnout of 81.7 per cent. While there was victory for the right-wing coalition and defeat for the left-of-centre forces, the orthodox communist parties were totally crushed and removed from the political arena. The former speaker of the lower chamber of parliament, Fausto Bertinotti, the leader of the largest orthodox Communist Refoundation Party, and the leader of the Italian Social Democrats, Enrico Boselli, tendered their resignations. Local and foreign observers were surprised at the success of the Northern League, which gained almost 9 per cent and doubled its support. In their opinion, the main threat to Silvio Berlusconi will come from the Northern League, which will have a "golden share" in the Senate and will have the power to block any government decision.

International attention was focused not so much on the victory of the right-wing forces as on their leader Silvio Berlusconi, who attracts much attention and speculation. Berlusconi is the richest man in Italy and his fortune is estimated at 12.8 billion dollars (14th on the Forbes world rating list). It was once calculated that the former prime minister of Italy is 40 times richer than all the leaders of the G7 countries together.

It is not just wealth that makes Berlusconi famous. He owns the most popular and prosperous media empire in Italy. He is also the owner, and a fan of, FC Milan. As a real Italian, he prefers dark suits, polka-dot ties and fast Italian cars. Berlusconi successfully embodies the collective image of an energetic, hard working, cheerful and extremely clever Italian.

At the same time, we cannot say that Silvio Berlusconi has always been blessed by fate. He was born on 29 September 1936 in Milan into the family of a housewife and a modest bank clerk. In order to pay for his education at university, the student Berlusconi used to sell vacuum cleaners and sing on cruise ships during holidays. In 1961, he graduated from the faculty of law at Milan University, but decided to engage in housing construction, rejecting his father's suggestion to work as a bank clerk. He could have started with a small business, but the future billionaire immediately demonstrated his "stylish" approach to business. In 1963, he bought a large plot of land on the northern outskirts of Milan in order to implement his fantastic idea of building a suburb, Milan-2, for 4,000 residents. In 10 years, Berlusconi's company developed almost half of Milan, while the founder himself made a fortune and rushed headlong into a completely new business.

In 1980, Silvio founded Canale 5 - the first national commercial television network in Italy, which immediately became popular with TV viewers. Some time later, he set up two other TV channels: Italia 1 and Retequatro. This was the beginning of Berlusconi's media empire (his company Fininvest has about 40,000 employees) which now covers not just Italy, but also the leading countries of Europe. When Silvio Berlusconi was asked about the secret of his success, he just shrugged his shoulders: "You have to work hard. You have to know how to set aside everything that is unimportant, set yourself a very clear goal and move towards it, even if you have to sacrifice something to achieve your goal."

In 1994, Silvio Berlusconi decided to become a politician. He set up the Forza Italia party (Forward Italy - the slogan of Italian football fans) and, in just two months, he promoted it so well that he won the parliamentary elections, having gained 21 per cent of the vote, and became prime minister. During the election campaign, he told voters: "I don't have to become prime minister for power. I have houses around the world, huge ships, a beautiful wife and a wonderful family. It is actually an act of self-sacrifice."

Silvio Berlusconi has appeared before court 11 times on charges of hiding his income, giving bribes to tax inspectors, illegal funding of his election campaign and links with the mafia. But only once was he fined, for the incorrect takeover of a film company. He was cleared of all the other charges. In his first five years in power, Berlusconi implemented measures to return to Italy dozens of billions of dollars that had been invested in foreign banks in the USA, Switzerland and offshore zones. He also reduced taxes, increased pensions and cracked down on crime. Incidentally, he also cracked down on corruption, but without sensational campaigns or showy names.

Without hesitation, Berlusconi outlined the most important tasks of his government, which will have four female members. He said that the first cabinet meeting will be held in Naples - a city buried under heaps of litter - promising to introduce order and tackle the "litter mafia". Italians do not know how he will solve this problem, which broke the left-of-centre Prodi government, but they are sure that if Silvio said it, he will definitely do it. The managerial skills of Berlusconi, who made billions out of nothing, are not in doubt. The second item on the government's agenda will be tackling the critical situation of the national air company, Alitalia, which has gone bankrupt with huge debts. The previous cabinet, which intended to sell the state's share to the Air France - KLM international consortium, was harshly criticized by the trade unions and Berlusconi, who demanded that the government find a buyer inside the country. No-one but Berlusconi himself is capable of doing this in Italy.

In the long-term, the main project of the prime minister and his team will be the liberalization of the Italian economy. Berlusconi promised that his government will never increase taxes and restrict freedoms. Everyone is waiting for the further privatization of the state sector in order to reduce the country's domestic debt. A key coalition ally - the Northern League - is waiting for the moment to begin federalizing the tax system. The developed North has long been unhappy that its money is flowing into a "black hole" - to help the backward South. Thus, social programmes are likely to be postponed to better times.

Analysts predict that "trans-Atlantic solidarity" will have higher priority in Italy's foreign policy. After Sarkozy's victory in France and Berlusconi's return to the post of prime minister, the politicians of united Europe are becoming more and more pro-American and the differences in the North Atlantic alliance, to the surprise of ill-wishers, are unlikely to split it. In any case, the new prime minister, who is not afraid of taking individual decisions in international relations, may cause a few surprises among his neighbours. For example, he is not really interested in the further deepening and expansion of European integration. "Friendly Silvio" has never been indifferent to Russia and, personally, to Vladimir Putin. So Moscow may get active support from Berlusconi within the camp of uncompromising Europeans, especially as Putin and Berlusconi will soon become counterparts - as prime ministers.

While the Italian left have quite a cool attitude towards Turkey's accession to the European Union, Silvio Berlusconi is a staunch supporter of Ankara's European integration (incidentally, he was an honoured guest at the wedding party of the son of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan). One way or another, Berlusconi's comeback may change the disposition of political forces not just in Italy, but also beyond its borders.

Azerbaijan, which is actively developing ties with the European Union, especially with respect to energy supplies, is far from being indifferent to political developments in Italy. Italy is an important economic partner and mutual trade turnover amounts to hundreds of millions of euros. Italy is a member of the OSCE Minsk Group and its representative was the first chairman of this group. The Azerbaijani president, who congratulated Silvio Berlusconi on his victory in the elections, expressed confidence that our relations will continue to develop rapidly under the new government. To this end, there is a mutual desire and objective potential - especially by extending energy communications and oil and gas pipelines to the Apennines through Turkey and Greece.