Results for Silvio Berlusconi
On this page:
 
Business Biographies:

Silvio Berlusconi

(1936–)

Founder and former chairman of Fininvest and prime minister of Italy

Nationality: Italian.

Born: September 29, 1936, in Milan, Italy.

Education: University of Milan, JD, 1961.

Family: Son of Luigi (bank clerk) and Rosella (secretary) Berlusconi; married Carla Dall'Ogglio (divorced); married Veronica Lario (actress), 1990; children: five (first marriage, two; second marriage, three).

Career: Cantieri Riuniti Milanesi, 1962, founder; Edilnord, 1963, founder; Telemilano, 1974, founder; Fininvest, 1978–1994, founder, chairman; Canale 5, 1980, founder; Italian government, 1994, 2001–, prime minister.

Awards: Cavalliere del Lavoro, 1977; honorary degree in managerial engineering from Calabria University, 1991; named Man of the Year by the International Film and Programme Market of Television, Cable, and Satellite, 1991.

Address: Presidenza del Consiglio dei ministri, Palazzo Chigi, Piazza Colonna 370, 00186 Rome, Italy; http://www.governo.it/index.asp.

Silvio Berlusconi was noted for his entrepreneurial spirit and flamboyance in his rise to the heights of Italian business and politics. His investments in real estate, media, and sports made him Italy's richest man, and he served two separate terms as the country's prime minister. He was also controversial. Lasting just seven months, his first stint as prime minister ended with his resignation amid charges that his business interests conflicted with his duties as head of state. In 2004, three years into his second term, he was tried on charges of having, in the 1980s, bribed judges who were hearing a case involving one of his competitors. Nicknamed "The Cavalier," he was known for living lavishly while catering to populist tastes in entertainment, for emphasizing his status as a self-made man and promoting himself unabashedly, and for making outrageous statements, including negative comments about Muslims and positive ones about former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Nonetheless, his influence remained far-reaching. Touching on almost every aspect of Italian life, his holdings included three television networks, Italy's largest publishing house, department stores, and a soccer team. In 2004 Forbes magazine ranked Berlusconi the richest person in Italy and the 30th wealthiest worldwide, with a net worth of $10 billion.

A Young Entrepreneur

Berlusconi grew up in a lower-middle-class Milanese family, but even as a youth he showed entrepreneurial zeal and determination to improve his status. He put himself through college with a variety of jobs: selling vacuum cleaners, writing papers for his classmates (for a fee), and singing on cruise ships. After he received a law degree, with honors, from the University of Milan in 1961, he borrowed money from the bank where his father worked and went into real estate development, setting up the companies Cantieri Riuniti Milanesi in 1962 and Edilnord in 1963. With Italy's prosperity in the 1960s had come a huge demand for housing, and Berlusconi was there to take advantage of it. His projects included Milano 2, a suburban development of 4,000 housing units on the outskirts of Milan, completed in 1969. He followed this with another residential development, Milano 3, in 1976.

New Opportunities in Television

Berlusconi went into television by establishing the cable TV company Telemilano in 1974 and bringing this service to the housing complexes he had built. A 1976 court decision paved the way for more television ventures. Italy's Constitutional Court ruled that while the public-sector network, Radio Televisione Italiana, could have a monopoly on national broadcast television, local markets were open to all.

Setting up a holding company, Fininvest, in 1978 as an umbrella for his various projects, Berlusconi delved into numerous aspects of the television industry. He rented films to local TV stations; in turn, the stations had to carry advertising they bought through Fininvest's advertising agency, Publitalia. In 1980 he set up the Canale 5 television network. To avoid running afoul of regulators, Canale 5 operated legally as a group of local stations. However, all the stations carried the same programs simultaneously by means of videotape, making it a national network in practice. Renato Brunetta, one of Berlusconi's political advisers, told the London Observer, "What Berlusconi did was what he always does. He cut to the core"—and the core was that the purpose of television was to sell advertising nationally (January 18, 2004). According to Brunetta, Berlusconi then put all "his energy and imagination" into creating a virtual national network that could compete with the public TV network for advertising, a concept the political adviser called "pure genius."

In 1981 Italy's Constitutional Court decided to allow privately owned networks to broadcast nationally. Berlusconi responded by buying Canale 5's primary competitors, Italia 1 in 1983 and Rete 4 in 1984, giving him about 45 percent of the national broadcast market, equivalent to Radio Televisione Italiana's share. His networks broadcast soap operas and game shows, which proved popular in contrast to the highbrow programming on the public network. The Constitutional Court, however, also favored strong antitrust regulations on private broadcasters and urged the Italian parliament to pass such legislation. Despite this, and despite widespread criticism of Berlusconi's large market share, the parliament in 1990 enacted a very weak antitrust law.

Into Politics

Berlusconi kept expanding his holdings, adding broadcast operations outside Italy and such diverse acquisitions as the AC Milan soccer club in 1986, La Standa department stores in 1988, and the Arnoldo Mondadori Editore publishing house in 1990. The Fininvest empire grew to about 150 companies. His critics continued to object to the degree of control he exercised over national television, but in the 1990s, demonstrating his trademark determination and tenacity, he fought back by going into politics. In 1993 he formed the political party Forza Italia, which means "Go Italy," a cheer used by fans of his soccer team. Berlusconi forged a coalition with two right-wing parties, the National Alliance and the Northern League. His personal popularity, enhanced by his status as a political outsider at a time when many insiders had been accused of enriching themselves at public expense in a widespread scandal known as Tangentopoli (Bribesville), helped him win the office of prime minister in 1994. Berlusconi had climbed to the top in national politics by "using the same methods and many of the same people as he had used to become a billionaire" (Independent, June 21, 2003).

Berlusconi stepped down as Fininvest's chairman in 1994, but the company remained under his ownership. Many Italians called for the new prime minister to sell some of his businesses, which he declined to do. Public outcry increased when he proposed that one of Fininvest's advisers, the merchant bank Mediobanca, assist in the privatization of state-run companies. Moreover, some of his appointees in the new government had been involved in the Tangentopoli scandal, and conflicts arose with the leaders of the National Alliance and the Northern League. Berlusconi was forced to resign as prime minister in December 1994, after only seven months in office.

Berlusconi then made some conciliatory moves, such as selling stakes in some of his businesses to outside investors. In 1995 he sold 28 percent of Mediaset, a company he had formed to unite his television, advertising, film, and recording ventures, to outside investors, and in 1996 he announced a public stock offering to further reduce his share. That year, he was elected to parliament, despite having been accused over the years of crimes that included tax evasion, bribery, and antitrust violations. Although convicted of some corruption-related charges, he appealed and stayed out of jail. In 2004 he was taken to court again, this time on charges of bribing judges. He maintained his innocence of all the charges brought against him, which he contended were politically motivated.

Many Italians continued to support Berlusconi, electing him prime minister again in 2001 to a term ending in 2006. In 2003 he became president of the European Union, a post that rotates among European heads of state every six months. He remained "one of Europe's most unusual and flamboyant leaders, a media magnate and political titan who has amassed, or at least sought, an astonishing degree of power, yet always seems to be dancing one small step ahead of disaster" (New York Times, February 16, 2003). Despite some of the charges and criticisms he faced, Berlusconi was to many Italians "the ordinary Joe next door who by dint of incredible hard work and determination has landed on top of the heap … Italy's master of the universe, their proudest son" (Independent, June 21, 2003).

Sources for Further Information

Bruni, Frank, "Italy's Leader Balances Ambitions and Trials," New York Times, February 16, 2003.

Carlin, John, "All Hail Berlusconi," Observer, January 18, 2004.

Popham, Peter, "Silvio Berlusconi: The Two Faces of Italy's Billionaire Premier," Independent, June 21, 2003.

—Trudy Ring

 
 
Political Biography: Silvio Berlusconi

(b. Milan, 29 Sept. 1936) Italian; leader of Forza Italia 1993 –  , Prime Minister of Italy May – Dec. 1994; 2001 –   The son of a bank manager, Berlusconi was educated at a private church-run school in Milan and qualified in law at the State University in the same city, financing his studies with the help of part-time employment as a singer and entertainer. After finishing his degree in 1961 he achieved rapid success as a property developer in the expanding suburbs of Milan.

Berlusconi extended his property interests to Rome, Turin, and Sardinia, and by the time the property boom ended in the late 1970s he had already diversified his commercial interests into banking, local television, local radio, publishing, and advertising. His financial control was exercised through a complex network of interlocking companies, centred on his financial holding company Fininvest. By the end of the 1980s Fininvest controlled three of the six national television channels.

Berlusconi had previously shown little interest in party politics or government for its own sake, but the collapse of the Socialists (led by his political ally Bettino Craxi) and of the the ruling Christian Democrats in 1992 – 4 threatened his television empire at a time when Fininvest was seriously indebted. In December 1993 Berlusconi announced the formation of his own political party, Forza Italia, a lay centre-right populist party. The ideology of FI was familiar but its party organization was entirely novel, in that it was run initially as a marketing division of Fininvest, having very few ordinary members, its candidates chosen by the central party organization or by Berlusconi himself. In the 1994 elections the candidates were predominantly recruited from within Berlusconi's own media empire. He fought his election campaign mainly through his national television channels, resisting strongly efforts to force him to give more air-time to his opponents. FI emerged as the largest single party, and Berlusconi became the new Prime Minister, leading a coalition comprising the former neo-Fascist grouping National Alliance and the regionalist party Northern League. Differences between these parties over a range of major issues led to the collapse of the coalition in December 1994. Out of office, while magistrates continued to investigate him on charges of corruption of tax officials, Berlusconi switched his attention to constitutional reform, proposing an American-style directly elected President, later modifying this to support for a system more similar to the French. In the 1996 elections, his alliance was defeated narrowly by a new centre-left coalition after a campaign fought by Berlusconi on a relatively radical neo-conservative platform.

Berlusconi was not only a brilliant entrepreneur but also an excellent television communicator, with a gift for popular campaigning. He was much less successful at managing a fractious coalition, and showed little gift for the complex political negotiations and compromises needed by an Italian Prime Minister. He was however a consistent anti-Communist who tried unsuccessfully to pursue low-tax policies and to reform central government bureaucracy. His electoral success contributed significantly to the Christian Democrats' rapid disappearance and helped establish the conditions for radical constitutional reform, without his being able to bring these to immediate fruition.

 
Biography: Silvio Berlusconi

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (born 1936) is one of the most controversial leaders in the history of a country known for governmental corruption and vice. Primarily a businessman with massive holdings and influence in international media, he is regarded by many as a political dilettante who gained his high office only through use of his considerable influence on the national media.

Hated by many but respected by all at least for his bella figura (personal style) and the sheer force of his will, Berlusconi has parlayed his business acumen and influence into a personal empire that has resulted in Italy's longest - running government ever and in his becoming the country's wealthiest man. Bursting onto the scene with no political experience in 1993, he campaigned - using his vast network of media holdings - on a promise to purge the notoriously lackadaisical Italian government of corruption. He won appointment to the office of prime minister in 1994. However, he and his fellow Forza Italia Party leaders soon found themselves accused of the very corruption he had vowed to eradicate. Charges of bribery, extortion, and other abuses of power trailed the leader until he was forced to resign later in 1994. Despite convictions on a number of corruption charges that were later overturned, the suave Berlusconi was again elected prime minister in 2001, and remained in that post as of late 2004. He is owner of one of the world's most valuable soccer franchises, the country's biggest private television network, a publishing conglomerate, assorted department stores and insurance companies, a newspaper, a magazine, and a bank. His personal monetary worth is estimated at U.S. $10 billion.

Entrepreneurial Streak Apparent Early On

Berlusconi was born on September 29, 1936, in Milan, Italy, the first of two sons of a middle - class bank clerk and a housewife. His precocious interest in business matters was matched by his passion for making money, and even as a boy he was already earning an income by organizing puppet shows for which he would then charge admission. While studying law at the University of Milan, Berlusconi sold vacuum cleaners, worked as a singer on a cruise ship, took portrait photographs, and did other students' homework for a fee. He also formed an important friendship with Bettino Craxi, who would later become Italian prime minister. His graduation thesis from law school was titled, "The Newspaper Advertising Contract."

As soon as he left school, Berlusconi began working in real estate because he sensed the development boom that was coming in response to the post - war prosperity of the 1960s. Declining his father's offer of a job at his bank, the young man managed to put together enough loans to found two real estate and development companies: Cantieri Reuniti Milanesi in 1962 and Edilnord in 1963. Edilnord won the contract for the development of Milano Two, an attractive suburb north of Milan for the upper class, in 1969, and in 1974 Berlusconi entered the world of media when he decided to install a cable television network (through his new Telemilano company) to service the fashionable bedroom community. Edilnord developed the chic Milano 3 suburb in 1976, having become the top developer of residential and commercial properties by that point.

Became Media Mogul in 1970s and 1980s

Following the Constitutional Court's 1976 ruling that the Radio Televisone Italiana (RAI) conglomerate could no longer extend to the local level its legal monopoly over national broadcasting, Berlusconi launched a massive effort to capitalize on the legitimization of "pirate" television station operators. He founded a holding company, Fininvest, to manage his expanding portfolio of interests as 700 commercial stations mushroomed virtually overnight. Berlusconi worked quickly to create a major library of films, and then rented them out to the new stations in exchange for their advertising on his new Pubitalia publishing subsidiary. By 1980, he was the dominant force in a skyrocketing television market that over the next five years increased its share of national advertising from 15 to 50 percent.

In the meantime, Berlusconi began stringing together a nationwide communications network, Canale Five, in 1977 and completed it in 1980. He created the illusion of a single channel that people could tune into by sending the same film by courier to many of the independent television stations. The pirate stations would then transmit the show simultaneously to their viewers. Unabashedly appealing to the mass market, he stockpiled foreign game shows, soap operas, and popular movies to lure viewers away from the stodgy government - run channels. Berlusconi's position as a media baron was strengthened when the courts reversed their earlier decision and legalized private national networks as long as anti - trust provisions were observed. He bought out two of his closest competitors in 1982 and 1984, cementing his domination of the country's commercial television market. Meanwhile, the reach of Berlusconi's media empire had extended to commercial television in France, where he created La Cinq in 1986; in Germany, where he founded Telefunf in 1987; and in Spain, where he established Telecinco in 1989.

When the courts ruled later in 1984 that Canele Five had usurped RAI's state - sanctioned right to broadcast a national service simultaneously, Berlusconi summoned his old friend Craxi, who had since become prime minister, to reverse the order. Thus benefiting from a general move toward deregulation, Berlusconi was permitted to maintain a virtual duopoly with RAI over the nation's television market. For the remainder of the 1980s, he continued to acquire more and more media holdings.

One of Berlusconi's key purchases during this period was of the Milan AC Soccer Club in 1986. A passionate soccer fan, he poured money into the club until it soon became the most successful Italian soccer team ever. (With him as chairperson, the team has since won the Champion's League title four times, the National League title seven times, and the World Cup Championship twice). He also bought the popular Standa department store chain in 1988 and, after a gigantic legal tussle, the Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.P.A. magazine, book, and newspaper publishing group in 1990. The latter purchase gave Berlusconi instant control over 20 percent of the Italian publishing market. His relentless acquisitions also exponentially increased Fininvest's debt load to dangerous levels, but Berlusconi had already become a billionaire.

Launched Political Career

At this point, Berlusconi found himself increasingly hounded by demands from all quarters that he break up his media empire for violating virtually every anti - trust law in the books. As these pressures increased through the first part of the 1990s, he made a decision that some saw as foolish but that others perceived as an effort to grab the power of the very forces opposed to him: he announced that he would run for prime minister. In typical aggressive fashion, Berlusconi handed over to close friends all his positions at Fininvest and other companies to avoid political conflicts of interest and immediately organized a political coalition named Forza Italia (after the ubiquitous soccer chant meaning "Go Italy"). He appointed himself as its leader.

Allying the new grouping with a federalist party and the remains of a disbanded neo - fascist group, he geared up his media companies to begin a television and print blitz to advertise his candidacy. Several editors of his press concerns resigned in protest at being told whom to endorse in the typically free - for - all run - up to elections. Berlosconi pressed on, portraying himself as honest and in touch with the concerns of young Italians while pledging to eradicate corruption, lower taxes, increase personal choice, and promote free - market economics. In 1992, a national poll revealed that Italian teenagers ranked Berlusconi ahead of Jesus Christ and the Italian president when asked about the ten people they admired most. However, disaster struck when the leader of the fascist group praised deceased Italian dictator Benito Mussolini as the century's finest statesman. It was a testament to the power of Berlusconi's personality that he was quickly able to smooth over the outrage that instantly arose over the comment about the hated leader.

Berlusconi held up his lack of political experience as a virtue to voters, telling them that his success as a businessman was excellent preparation for him to transform the bloated, inefficient Italian government into a lean, streamlined machine that would work for the people and provide a fresh start for all, with sweeping tax cuts and millions of new jobs. The media (much of which he ran, of course) quickly dubbed Berlusconi "the Knight." Support for him built rapidly despite virulent attacks by his detractors. The media and Berlusconi's own personal flair prevailed, and the Freedom Pole won 43 percent of the popular vote in March 1994 elections - enough to enable him to form a government of which he was appointed prime minister. However, despite his precautions, allegations of conflicts of interest arose quickly, fueled by the fact that Berlusconi and his family had retained 51 percent of Fininvest's interests. Coupled with these suspicions, when one of the coalition's parties bailed out of the union, Berlusconi's government collapsed after only nine months in power. In the meantime, his carefully cultivated image as a politician who was above the nation's traditional corruption began to crumble when it was revealed that Berlusconi had in 1978 joined the sinister Propaganda Two group. This was a secret Masonic lodge that had created a powerful state within a state with strong influence on the secret police, banks, the government, and the military.

Undaunted by these obstacles, Berlusconi began selling off more and more of his shares in his wide array of holdings, and in 1996 - just two days before the April general election - he officially declared that he no longer had a majority control in any business. His past continued to haunt him, however, with further allegations of corruption and misdeeds, and although he succeeded in being elected as a member of Parliament representing his right - wing coalition, he was forced to abandon his bid for the premiership.

Appointed Premier Again Despite Lingering Charges

As charges of misdeeds continued to pile up, Berlusconi alleged that left - wing politicians had mounted a plot against him. He was convicted of several financial crimes related to accounting and illegal political funding in 1997 and 1998. He managed to have these overturned on appeal, but those charges were followed by allegations of bribery and other misdeeds in 1999. Nevertheless, he was reelected as a member of the European Union Parliament in 1999 and remained opposition leader in his own country's Parliament until 2001, when he was once again appointed prime minister on May 13. Berlusconi and his House of Freedoms coalition had won the popular vote by 18.5 million votes, propelled once again by his image as a forceful, self - made man who would at last straighten out the Italian government. Nevertheless, plenty of people were outraged by Berlusconi's second rise to power, and in 2002 hundreds of thousands of them staged a massive protest to drive home their point - that his heavy involvement in the world of business made him incapable of being an impartial and fair national leader.

The government was shaken to its core later in 2002 when a mammoth corruption scandal came to light that involved some 6,000 politicians and business leaders, including Berlusconi's brother Paolo and his friend Craxi, and billions of dollars in graft. Meanwhile, Berlusconi himself served as foreign minister in addition to his role as prime minister for ten months in 2002.

Berlusconi got a reprieve from the courts in 2003 when Parliament passed a controversial law making the government's top officials, including the prime minister, immune from prosecution. It looked for a while like the legal challenges to his leadership were behind him, but the Constitutional Court soon overturned the law. Meanwhile, Berlusconi's firm decision to stand as an ally with the United States in the war in Iraq had become extremely unpopular, and by 2003, a full 75 percent of Italians were opposed to his decision. In July 2003, Berlusconi assumed the rotating six - month presidency of the European Union, using that position to urge other European countries to support the United States in the war.

By 2004, Berlusconi and his government had enacted numerous bills and laws aimed at reforming the nation's school and labor systems, reduced taxes and other financial burdens on citizens, increased government support of the unemployed, elderly, and disabled, and, not surprisingly, loosened regulations on limits of private ownership of media. However, critics from both Italy and elsewhere warned that Berlusconi's liberal spending could soon have major negative impacts on the country's long - term economic outlook. Nevertheless, the prime minister now had the honor of heading Italy's longest - running government ever.

In 2004, Forbes magazine ranked Berlusconi as the 30th wealthiest man in the world, up from 45th in 2002, and estimated his personal fortune at $10 billion. He has been married twice, first to Carla Dall'Ogglio, with whom he had two children, and then to actress Veronica Lario, with whom he has three children. He released a CD in 2003 of Neopolitan love songs. The prime minister prefers to spend his spare time at his 70 - room villa in Sardinia named "Arcore," whose amenities include a private park, a movie theater, and walls of large - screen televisions.

Periodicals

Daily Telegraph (London), October 31, 2003.

Economist, April 30, 1994.

Financial Times (London), April 7, 2003.

Online

"Berlusconi Acquitted of Bribery Charges," Voice of America News,http://www.voanews.com/english/2004-12-10-voa42.cfm (December 10, 2004).

"Berlusconi, Silvio," Encyclopedia.com,www.encyclopedia.com (November 29, 2004).

"Berlusconi, Silvio: Italian Media Mogul and Politician," The Museum of Broadcast Communications,http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/B/htmlB/berlusconis/berlusconis.htm (November 29, 2004).

"Governo Italiano: Il Presidente del Consignlio dei Ministri," Italian Government Online,http://www.governo.it/Presidente/Biografia/biografiaen.html (November 29, 2004).

"Man of the Week: Silvio Berlusconi," AskMen.com,http://askmen.com/men/business - politics/47b - silvio - berlusconi.html (December 21, 2004).

"Profile: Silvio Berlusconi," BBC News Europe,http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3034600.stm (November 29, 2004).

"The World's Richest People," Forbes,http://www.forbes.com/2004/02/25/bill04land.html (December 12, 2004).

 

(born Sept. 29, 1936, Milan, Italy) Italian media tycoon and prime minister of Italy (1994; 2001 – 06); reelected 2008. After graduating from the University of Milan, he became a real estate developer, amassing a considerable fortune by the 1970s. By the 1990s he owned more than 150 businesses, including three television networks and Italy's largest publishing house. In 1994 he founded Forza Italia, a conservative political party, and was elected prime minister. Faced with conflict of interest and other charges, he resigned in December 1994. He was later convicted of fraud and corruption, though the convictions were eventually overturned. Despite these charges and criticism of his control of much of the Italian media, he remained the leader of Forza Italia and again became prime minister in 2001. His support of the Iraq War proved unpopular, and he struggled to improve the country's economy. In the 2006 elections his coalition was defeated by a centre-left bloc headed by Romano Prodi. Following Prodi's resignation in 2008, Berlusconi won a third term as prime minister.

For more information on Silvio Berlusconi, visit Britannica.com.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Berlusconi, Silvio
(bĕr'ləskō') , 1936–, Italian business executive and politician, premier (1994; 2001–6) of Italy, b. Milan. His first fortune was made in real estate during the 1960s. In the early 1980s Berlusconi founded commercial television networks that wooed the public away from the more stolid fare offered on government-run channels, and he became a billionaire as head of a media empire embracing television, advertising, film, and publishing.

Entering politics as a strong advocate of a market-driven economy, he established the conservative Forza Italia party in 1994 and vaulted to prominence, largely through his excoriation of the corruption-tainted established parties and his ready access to publicity. In 1994 parliamentary elections, his three-party right-wing coalition captured a majority, and Berlusconi became premier. By the end of the year, however, his coalition collapsed and he resigned.

Subsequently accused of the very corruption he had vowed to expunge, Berlusconi, who alleged a left-wing plot against him, was convicted in 1997 and 1998 of financial crimes. The convictions were later overturned on appeal, but he also faced other bribery and other charges beginning in 1999. In 2001 he was again elected premier, heading a right-wing coalition and promising tax cuts, new jobs, increased pensions, public-works projects, and anticrime measures. In 2003, in an attempt to end Berlusconi's bribery trial, parliament passed a law making the premier (and other top Italian officials) immune from prosecution, but the constitutional court subsequently overturned the law. The following year he was acquitted of the bribery charges; the other charges were dismissed. After losses in local elections in 2005, he resigned and formed a new coalition government. His coalition narrowly lost in the 2006 parliamentary elections. Later in the year Berlusconi was tried on tax and accounting charges relating to his media companies, but some of charges were later dropped.

Bibliography

See studies by P. Ginsburg (2004) and A Stille (2006).

 
Wikipedia: Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi

In office
11 June 2001 – 17 May 2006
President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
Deputy Giulio Tremonti
Gianfranco Fini
Marco Follini
from 12/03/2004, to 18/04/2005
Preceded by Giuliano Amato
Succeeded by Romano Prodi
In office
27 April 1994 – 17 January 1995
President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro
Deputy Giuseppe Tatarella
Roberto Maroni
Preceded by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
Succeeded by Lamberto Dini

In office
January 6, 2002 – November 14, 2002
Prime Minister Himself
Preceded by Renato Ruggiero
Succeeded by Franco Frattini

In office
March 10, 2006 – May 17, 2006
Prime Minister Himself
Preceded by Francesco Storace
Succeeded by Livia Turco

Member of the Chamber of deputies
Incumbent
Assumed office 
April 21, 2006
Constituency XIX - Campania I

Born September 29 1936 (1936--) (age 71)
Flag of Italy Milan, Italy
Nationality Flag of Italy Italian
Political party Forza Italia
Spouse Carla Dall'Oglio (1965)
Veronica Lario (1985)
Children Marina Berlusconi
Pier Silvio Berlusconi
Barbara Berlusconi
Eleonora Berlusconi
Luigi Berlusconi
Residence Flag of Italy Arcore, Italy
Alma mater Università statale di Milano
Profession Politician
Businessman
Religion Roman Catholic

Sound Silvio Berlusconi? (born September 29, 1936) is an Italian politician, entrepreneur, and media proprietor. He is the leader of the Forza Italia political movement, a centre-right party he founded in 1993 in Rome. Berlusconi has twice held office as prime minister of Italy, most recently from 2001 to 2006.

Berlusconi is the founder and main shareholder of Fininvest, among the ten largest Italian privately-owned companies[1], operating in media and finance including three national TV channels. Together these account for nearly half the Italian TV market. He owns three (out of seven) national television channels as well as some of the country's most important newspapers. He is also well known for being, since 1986, the president of A.C. Milan, a prominent Italian football team. Under his presidency it has won a number of national and international trophies. According to Forbes magazine, Berlusconi is Italy's richest person, a self-made man (see section) with personal assets worth $11 billion (USD) in 2006, making him the world's 37th richest person. His rise in the political arena was extremely rapid. He was elected President of the Council of Ministers following the March 1994 elections, when Forza Italia gained a relative majority a mere three months after having been officially launched. He formed the first unabashedly right-wing administration in 34 years. However, his cabinet collapsed after seven months, due to internal disagreements in the centre-right coalition. In the 1996 elections, he ran for Prime Minister again but was defeated by centre-left candidate Romano Prodi. From 1996 to 2001 he was the leader of the parliamentary opposition. In the 2001 elections, he was again the centre-right candidate for Prime Minister and won against the centre-left candidate Francesco Rutelli. Berlusconi then formed his second and third governments, which together lasted five years.

Berlusconi was leader of the centre-right coalition in the May 2006 elections, which he lost by a very narrow margin, his counterpart being again Romano Prodi. On 17 May, 2006 he was formally succeeded by Prodi.

In economics, Berlusconi has endorsed conservative policies, such as lowering taxes and generally placing fewer constraints on enterprise, in an effort to encourage growth. In foreign policy, his views have been strongly pro-American, even at the expense of causing some damage to relations with other European countries; in particular he supported George W. Bush in the U.S.-led 2003 invasion of Iraq by sending Italian troops to join the "Coalition of the Willing" (after the attack, only for peacekeeping). In social policy matters the Berlusconi government has implemented a conservative program: passing stricter laws concerning immigration, artificial insemination and drug use.

His ownership of an Italian television network has been controversial. According to Berlusconi's adversaries, the Mediaset (Fininvest's media division) TV channels have played a crucial role in his political success by airing propaganda during news or other information-oriented programming. In contrast, his supporters claim that the networks have always maintained a neutral political stance. After Berlusconi's election as Prime Minister, the left accused him of also abusing his position as premier to control the publicly owned RAI TV channels. In practice, they maintain, this permits him to control almost all TV sources of information, while the right insists that the RAI channels are, if anything, biased in favor of the centre-left. According to independent observers[2], two of the State channels (Rai 1 and Rai 2) had been indeed controlled by Berlusconi's government, while Rai 3 managed to retain independence and a critical stance. Such control, in a famous example, was displayed when Berlusconi called Member of European Parliament Martin Schultz a "Nazi kapo", and the Rai 1 news program showed the incident with no audio and offering a misleading account. Political debate in Italy has become rather alienating, as the contenders often seem to completely lack a shared information source regarded as neutral and reliable. Although Berlusconi officially resigned from all functions in his commercial group in 1994 upon entering political office, he is still the largest shareholder and is perceived to have retained control.

Family background and private life

Berlusconi was raised in an upper middle-class family in Milan. His father Luigi (1908-89) worked with increasing responsibilities at Banca Rasini. This was a small bank in Milan which was later claimed to be involved in money laundering for the Sicilian mafia. His mother was Rosa Bossi. Silvio was the first of three children, the others being Maria Antonietta Berlusconi (born 1943) and Paolo Berlusconi (born 1949), now both entrepreneurs.

After completing his secondary school education at a Salesian college, he studied law at the Università Statale in Milan, graduating cum laude with a thesis on the legal aspects of advertising in 1961. Berlusconi was not required to serve the standard one-year stint in the army which was compulsory at the time.

In 1965 he married Carla Dall'Oglio, and they had two children: Maria Elvira, better known as Marina (born 1966) and Pier Silvio (b. 1968). Years later, Berlusconi established a durable relationship with the actress Veronica Lario (born Miriam Bartolini), with whom he had three children: Barbara (b. 1984), Eleonora (b. 1986) and Luigi (b. 1988). He was divorced from Dall'Oglio in 1985, and married Lario in 1990. At this time, Berlusconi was a well-known entrepreneur, and his wedding was a notable social event. One of the best men for the wedding was former Prime Minister Bettino Craxi, who was Berlusconi's witness.

Business career

Silvio Berlusconi with Bettino Craxi, the Prime Minister of Italy at the time.
Enlarge
Silvio Berlusconi with Bettino Craxi, the Prime Minister of Italy at the time.

Milano 2

Berlusconi's business career began in the building construction business in the 1960s. In the late 1960s, he had the idea of developing Milano 2, a garden city of around 3,500 flats. It was built on the eastern outskirts of Milan beneath the flight path of aircraft taking off from nearby Linate airport. Suddenly, flights were diverted to a new airport and his investment became valuable.

His first entry into the media world was in 1973 by means of a cable television station, Telemilano, designed to service his Milano 2 residential development.

Fininvest

In 1978 Berlusconi formed his first media group, Fininvest, which in the five years leading up to 1983 earned 113 billion lire (the equivalent of about 260 million euro at 1997 values). The funding sources are still unknown because of the complex system of holding companies that makes them impossible to trace, despite investigations conducted by various state attorneys. Among the banks involved in this transfer of funds was Banca Rasini.[citation needed]

Fininvest expanded into a country-wide network of local TV stations which had similar programming, forming, in effect, a single national network. This was seen as breaching the public broadcaster RAI's statutory monopoly on creating a national network which was later abolished. In 1980 Berlusconi founded Italy's first private national network Canale 5, followed shortly thereafter by Italia 1 which was bought from the Rusconi family in 1982, and Rete 4 which was bought from Mondadori in 1984. Only at this point, enforcing the law which then reserved national broadcasting to RAI exclusively, the judges of Turin, Pescara and Rome ordered that these private networks cease and desist. But Berlusconi was strongly aided in his successful effort to create the first and only Italian commercial TV empire by his links to Bettino Craxi, secretary-general of the Italian Socialist Party and also prime minister of Italy at that time. Craxi, with an urgent decree, legalized the national broadcasts made by Berlusconi's television stations. After some political turmoil in 1985 the decree was definitively approved. For some years, the three channels owned by Berlusconi existed in this strange limbo, and were not therefore allowed, for instance, to broadcast news and political commentary. They were fully elevated to national TV channels in 1990 with the so-called Mammì law.

In 1990, Berlusconi produced the Oscar winning film, Mediterraneo.

In 1995, Berlusconi sold a portion of his media holdings, first to the German media group Kirch (now bankrupt) and then by public offer. In 1999 Berlusconi expanded again in the media business in a partnership with Kirch called the Epsilon MediaGroup.

Current assets

Berlusconi's main company Mediaset, comprises three national television channels, which hold approximately half the national viewing audience, and Publitalia, the leading Italian advertising and publicity agency. He also owns Arnoldo Mondadori, the largest Italian publishing house, whose publications include Panorama, one of the most popular news magazine in Italy. He has interests in cinema and home video distribution firms (Medusa and Penta), insurance and banking (Mediolanum) and a variety of other activities. His brother Paolo owns and operates Il Giornale, a centre-right newspaper which is widely regarded as openly pro-Berlusconi publication. Il Giornale often focuses on Berlusconi's personal interests at the cost of disregarding current events. His wife is one of the owners of Il Foglio, an atypical daily newspaper which host contribution from people of wide-ranging political views. The results from an internal poll, conducted in 2006, highlighted a majority of liberal oriented journalists however several indicated the biggest communist party, Rifondazione Comunista, as their predilection.

Berlusconi also owns the football club AC Milan. Some think has been an important factor in his political success ("Forza Italia" means "Go Italy!"). Before the party was founded it was connected to football supporters of the national team.[3]

Political career

"Entering the field"

In the early 1990s, the two largest Italian political parties, the Christian Democrats (Democrazia Cristiana) and the Socialist Party (Partito Socialista Italiano) lost much of their electoral strength due to a large number of judicial investigations concerning the financial corruption of many of their foremost members (see the Mani Pulite affair). This led to a general expectation that upcoming elections would be won by the Democratic Party of the Left (Partito Democratico della Sinistra), (the former Communist Party) and their allies in the Progressive coalition unless there was a strong alternative. Berlusconi publicly announced on January 26th, 1994 his decision to enter politics ("Entering the field", in his own words) on a platform centered on the defeat of Communism. The timing of his announcement raised some questions, however, because, just a couple of weeks before he decided to enter politics, investigators into the Mani Pulite affair were close to issuing warrants for the arrest of him as well as the chief executives of his business group.

The debate about motives

One of the most debated matters about Berlusconi concerns the true reasons that Berlusconi entered into politics in the first place.

Many well informed people have argued that Berlusconi entered into politics for completely self-interested reasons: saving his own companies from bankruptcy and himself from convictions. According to journalist Marco Travaglio, Berlusconi "never hid [this motive] from anyone. From the very beginning he said it clearly to his associates (and also to Biagi and to Montanelli): If I don't enter politics, I'm going to jail and into bankruptcy".[4] From the very beginning he said it clearly to his associates. On the other hand, Berlusconi's supporters hailed him as the "new man", an outsider who was going to bring a new efficiency to the public bureaucracy and reform the state from top to bottom. They argued that he was too rich to have any interest in using politics to become even richer, and that, regarding his judicial trials, his opponents were just trying to get rid of him by way of judicial persecution.

While investigating these matters, three journalists23 noted the following facts:

  • Mediobanca's annual report about the 10 biggest Italian companies showed that, in 1992, Berlusconi's media and finance group Fininvest had about 7,140 billion lire of debts, 8,193 billion lire of assets (with 35% of liquidity) and a net worth (that is, assets minus debts) of 1,053 billion lire. A patrimonial situation far to be considered at risk of bankruptcy (that means liquidity less than short-run debts).
  • Between 1992 and 1993, Forza/Fininvest had undergone several judicial investigations by Milano, Turin and Rome prosecutors. They regarded: alleged bribes (to political parties and public officers with the aim of getting contracts), alleged fake invoices of Publitalia, political congress financing and television frequencies.

1994 electoral victory

Berlusconi founded Forza Italia only two months before the 1994 elections. He formed two separate electoral alliances: one with the Northern League (Lega Nord) in northern Italian districts, and another, the Alliance for Freedom, with the right-wing National Alliance (Alleanza Nazionale; heir to the Italian Social Movement) in central and southern regions. In a shrewd pragmatic move, he did not ally with the latter in the North because the League disliked them. As a result, Forza Italia was allied with two parties that were not allied with each other.

Berlusconi launched a massive campaign of electoral advertisements on his three TV networks. He subsequently won the elections, with Forza Italia raking in 21% of the popular vote, the highest percentage of any single party. One of the most significant promises that he made in order to secure victory was that his government would create "one million more jobs". He was appointed Prime Minister in 1994, but his term in office was short because of the inherent contradictions in his coalition: the League, a regional party with a strong electoral base in northern Italy, was at that time oscillating between federalist and separatist positions, and the National Alliance was a nationalist party that had yet to renounce neo-fascism at the time.

Fall of the Berlusconi I administration

In December 1994, 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. Berlusconi remained as caretaker prime minister for a little over a month until his replacement by a technocratic government headed by Lamberto Dini. Dini had been a key minister in the Berlusconi cabinet, and Berlusconi said the only way he would support a technocratic government would be if Dini headed it. In the end, however, Dini was only supported by most opposition parties but not by Forza Italia and Lega Nord. In 1996, this coalition was replaced, after a new election, by a centre-left government (without the liberal middle-right Lega Nord party) lead by Romano Prodi [1].

Electoral victory of 2001

In 2001 Berlusconi again ran as leader of the centre-right coalition House of Freedoms (Casa delle Libertà) which included National Alliance, UDC (United Christian Democrats), Northern League and other parties. Berlusconi's success in this election led to him becoming Prime Minister once more, with the coalition receiving 45.4% of the vote for the Chamber of Deputies and 42.5% for the Senate.

In a TV show during the electoral campaign, Berlusconi signed the so-called Contratto con gli Italiani (agreement with Italians), that was likely a key step to achieve the victory. In this unofficial agreement, Berlusconi claimed he could improve several aspects of the Italian economy and life, including lowering taxes, increasing employment, building up new public works, increasing retirement rents and strangling crime. He asserted that he would retire from politics if this contract would not be respected.

Opposition parties have always asserted that Berlusconi was not able to achieve the goals he claimed in Contratto con gli Italiani. The National Alliance and UDC (Berlusconi's allied parties) also asserted that the Government did not manage to respect the promises in the agreement. According to them, Berlusconi's failure was due to the unfavourable economical condition that Italy was experiencing. In particular, the Italian GDP grew very slowly during Berlusconi's Government, and the public debt rose quickly. On the other hand, Berlusconi himself has always claimed he achieved all the goals of the agreement, and said his Government provided un miracolo continuo (a continuous miracle).

Subsequent elections

Casa delle Libertà did not do as well in the 2003 local elections as it did in the 2001 national elections. And, in common with many other European governing groups, in the 2004 elections of the European Parliament, gaining 43.37% support. Forza Italia's support was also reduced from 29.5% to 21.0% (in the 1999 European elections Forza Italia had 25.2%). As an outcome of these results the other coalition parties, whose electoral results were more satisfactory, asked Berlusconi and Forza Italia for greater influence in the government's political line.

The Berlusconi III Cabinet

In the 2005 Local Elections (April 3 and April 4, 2005), the candidates supported by the Union Coalition (formerly known as Olive Tree) won in 12 out of 14 regions which were renovating local governments and Governor; Berlusconi's coalition held in only two regions (Lombardy and Veneto). Two parties (UDC and Socialist Party) left the Berlusconi government. Berlusconi thus presented to the President of the Republic the dissolution of his government on April 20 2005, after much hesitation. On April 23 he formed a new government with the same allies, reshuffling the ministers and amending the government program. A key point required by UDC (and to a minor extent by AN) was to reduce the focus on tax reduction the government had had in the past.

There have been some criticisms on Berlusconi's choices especially on the appointment as new ministry of Health, position previously held by Girolamo Sirchia - a renowned Professor and doctor-, of Francesco Storace, who, only a few weeks earlier, was the President of Lazio Region.

The 2006 Elections

In the 2006 Parliamentary Elections, the results have given Prodi's bloc (Berlusconi's opposition) the majority (49.8% against 49.7% for the ruling centre-right in the Lower House and a two-senator lead in the Senate, 158 vs 156). This situation has assigned to Prodi the possibility to form a new cabinet, because of the recent modification to electoral rules introduced by Berlusconi's cabinet. The center-left coalition, with a margin of 25,224 votes (out of over 38 million voters), nevertheless won 348 seats (versus 281 for Casa delle Libertà) because of the majority premium. Ironically, the same electoral law that Berlusconi had forced through shortly before the election, and for which he had been accused of changing the law so that he would win anyway, caused his defeat.

The Court of Cassation has validated the voting procedures and determined that the election process was constitutional, thus confirming at present the election results.

Centrist parties like UDC immediately conceded the Unione's victory, while more right wing elements, like Berlusconi's Forza Italia and Lega Nord, still refused to accept its validity, right up until May 2, 2006, when Berlusconi submitted his resignation to president Ciampi [2].

Policies

George W. Bush shakes hands with Silvio Berlusconi, during his visit to the Oval Office, Monday, October 31, 2005. White House photo by Eric Draper.
Enlarge
George W. Bush shakes hands with Silvio Berlusconi, during his visit to the Oval Office, Monday, October 31, 2005. White House photo by Eric Draper.

As he founded his Forza Italia party and entered politics, Berlusconi expressed support for "freedom, the individual, family, enterprise, Italian tradition, Christian tradition and love for weaker people" [3]. Forza Italia could be considered a liberal party on economical issues, although references to liberalism were more common in the initial years of the party development than they are now; some consider Forza Italia a populist party. However, Forza Italia officially joined the European People's Party in 1999, theoretically choosing to be identified mainly as a Christian Democratic party. Internal democracy in the party is very low and internal dissent virtually non-existent. There are no known factions or currents; at present three party conventions have been held, all of them resolved to support Berlusconi, and his re-election by acclamation. Every man in the party apparatus is appointed by Berlusconi himself: for all these reasons, its political opponents call Forza Italia "the plastic party".

Some allies of Berlusconi, especially Lega Nord (Northern League) push for a strong control of immigration and getting their support has required some changes in policies from Berlusconi. Berlusconi himself has shown some reluctance to pursue such policies as strongly as his allies might like. [4] Even so, a number of measures have been taken, but the effects are controversial. The government, after introducing a controversial immigration law (the "Bossi-Fini", from the names of Lega Nord and Alleanza Nazionale leaders) is searching for the cooperation of both European and other Mediterranean countries to face the emergency of the large number of immigrants trying to reach Italian coasts on old and overloaded ferries and fishing boats, risking (and, often, losing) their life.

The Berlusconi government has had a strong tendency to support American foreign policies despite the policy divide between the U.S. and many other founding members of European Union (Germany, France, Belgium), a break from the traditional Italian foreign policy. Italy, with Berlusconi in office, became a substantial ally to the United States due to his support of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.

Berlusconi, in his meetings with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and U.S. President George W. Bush, said that he pushed for "a clear turnaround in the Iraqi situation" and for a quick hand-over of sovereignty to the government chosen by the U.N. Italy had some 2,700 troops deployed in Southern Iraq, the third largest contingent there after the American and British forces. Italian troops were gradually withdrawn from Iraq in the second half of 2006 with the last soldiers leaving the country in December of the same year.

During his electoral campaign, Berlusconi appeared in a tv show signing a "Contract with the Italians" where he engaged that his government would reduce taxes and simplify the taxation system for both privates and enterprises. This project was however only partially fulfilled.

A key point of the government program was the planned reform of the Italian Constitution (which Berlusconi said to be "inspired by Soviets"[5]), an issue the coalition parties themselves initially had significantly different opinions about, with Lega Nord insisting on the federal reform (devolution of more power to the Regions) as the condition itself for remaining in the coalition; Alleanza Nazionale pushing for the so-called "strong premiership" (more powers to the executive), meant as a counterweight to the federal reform, to preserve the State unity; UDC asking for an electoral law not damaging small parties (more proportional) and being generally more willing to find a compromise with the moderate wing of the opposition. Difficulties in arranging a mediation caused some internal unrest in the Berlusconi government in 2003, but then they were mostly overcome and the law (comprising power devolution to the regions, Federal Senate and "strong premiership") was passed by the Senate in April 2004; it was slightly modified by the Chamber of Deputies in October 2004, and again on October 2005 and finally approved by the Senate on November 16, 2005. The opposition Union coalition collected more than 500,000 signatures in order to call a referendum, which was held on the 25th and 26th of July 2006 and resulted in the rejection of the constitutional reform, refused by 61,3% of the voters.

Legislative actions


Berlusconi's government passed many pieces of legislation, among which:

  • The reform of the labour system, with the so called "legge Biagi", promoting labour flexibility for new workers. It is widespread opinion that this law has been the best success of Berlusconi's government, leading to a record-low unemployment level, while some critics blame the Biagi law as one of the cause of the "uncertain job" problem affecting many young employees.[citation needed]
  • The reform of the school system, called "riforma Moratti" that was quickly put under revision by the centre-left government who followed in charge Berlusconi's government
  • The law on large public works (MOSE project saving city of Venice, High speed railways Turin-Milan-Florence-Rome-Naples and Turin-Verona-Venice, Bridge between Sicily and Italy, underground in Rome, Parma, Naples, Turin, Milan, a strong modernisation of Highways and Water structures in South of Italy, project "Highways on the sea", etc. ) - most projects, however, just remained on paper.[citation needed]
  • Abolition of donation and inheritance taxes (these taxes had previously been abolished for low- and medium- income taxpayers) - now reinstated.
  • The abolition of compulsory military service for all male Italians (the armed forces are now composed only of volunteers since 2004, anticipating the deadline set in a law passed by the previous government).
  • The Urbani decree, named after the Ministro per i beni e le attività culturali Giuliano Urbani, punishing whoever circulates, even via file sharing software, a film or other copyrighted material or part of it, or enjoys it with the same technology, with a 1,500 € fine, the confiscation of the instruments and the material, and the publication of the measure on a national daily paper and a periodical about shows. The decree was later modified by the parliament to include only copyright violation for the purpose of profit, where "profit" also includes the savings due to not buying the software[citation needed]. The Court of Cassation, however, sentenced that "profit" only means an actual "significant monetary profit".

Also, well-known (because regulating aspects of every-day life) legislative acts were:

  • The reform of rules regarding drivers' licenses, led to a 14.5% decrease in car accidents, and an 18.5% decrease of lethal car accidents, according to the Italian police department. Detractors state this law was actually a small modification to a law previously examined by parliament.[citation needed]
  • The increase in taxation on blank data storage devices — this was required by a European Union directive, but the fee in Italy is much higher than in most other EU countries, so that many people now buy them abroad[citation needed].
  • The banning of smoking in offices, pubs, restaurants and all closed public places, which came into effect in January 2005. This was not the first law prohibiting smoking in some public places[citation needed], but it was the first to be actually enforced in practice in the overwhelming majority of public places.
  • The law regulating artificial insemination, banning research on embryonic stem cells, pre-implant diagnosis and insemination by donors other than the husband, forcing women to being implanted after the embryo creation even in case of genetic diseases, recognising the embryo as a human rights bearer. The abrogation of the most controversial items has been the object of an unsuccessful popular referendum called in June 2005 by former allies such as the Italian Radicals, together with some (but not all) parties of L'Unione.
  • In a controversial move, the Berlusconi government also passed a new media reform legislation. Among other things, such legislation increased the maximum limit on an individual's share of the media market, allowing Berlusconi to retain control of his three national TV channels (one of which was still using a frequency which by law should have gone to another channel). The legislation also enabled the roll-out of digital television and internet based publishing, and hence his government claimed it resolved the problem of conflict of interest and his media monopoly "by opening up more channels". The law was initially vetoed by the President of the Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, on charges of being anti-constitutional, but it was then forced into law by the Parliament.[citation needed]

A less known law made the so called "Articolo 41 bis" punitive jail regime for mafia leaders a permanent provision. Under previous law, it had to be confirmed every two years.

The new pensions' law, issued on July 2004, raised the minimum age for retirement and added incentives for delayed retirement.

Berlusconi has forced through the Parliament an overall constitutional reform to deepen the current federal form of the State and strengthen the power of the Prime Minister. This reform is disputed, because it has been imposed only by repressing the former separatist party Lega Nord, and without an adequate sharing with the opposition. Many experts of constitutional law think it is fraught with potential disfunctionalities. In January 2006, the reform was approved by the Parliament, but the popular referendum on June 2006 stopped this reform into becoming law.

In October 2005, Berlusconi forced a reform of electoral law. The First Past the Post system was abandoned, returning to the proportional system. The "first past the post" system had been approved by popular vote in a 1993 referendum.

Other pieces of legislation included:

  • the decriminalization of false account statements;
  • the suspension of trials against the highest officers o