http://thefilmarchive.org/
June 15, 2009
Silvio Berlusconi (born
29 September 1936) is an
Italian politician and media tycoon who served three times as
Prime Minister of Italy from
1994 to
1995,
2001 to
2006 and 2008 to
2011.
Berlusconi is also the controlling shareholder of Mediaset and owner of
A.C. Milan. He is nicknamed
Il Cavaliere (
The Knight) for his knighthood to the
Order of Merit for Labour, which he received in
1977.
Berlusconi is the longest-serving post-war Prime Minister of Italy, and third longest-serving since
Italy's unification, after
Benito Mussolini and
Giovanni Giolitti, holding three separate terms. Technically, he has been sworn in four times because after a cabinet reshuffle, as happened with Berlusconi in
2005, the new ministry is sworn in and subjected to a vote of confidence. He is the leader of the
People of Freedom political movement, a centre-right party he founded in 2009. From
November 2009 to
November 2011, he was the most senior leader of the G8 countries. In
2012,
Forbes magazine ranked him as the 169th richest man in the world with a net worth of
US$5.9 billion.
Berlusconi's political rise was rapid and surrounded by some controversy. He was elected as a
Member of the
Chamber of Deputies for the first time and appointed as
Prime Minister following the
March 1994 parliamentary elections, when
Forza Italia gained a relative majority a mere three months after having been officially launched. However, his cabinet collapsed after nine months, due to internal disagreements in his coalition
. In the April 1996 snap parliamentary elections, Berlusconi was defeated by the centre-left candidate
Romano Prodi. In the May 2001 parliamentary 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 cabinets, until 2006.
Berlusconi was leader of the centre-right coalition in the
April 2006 parliamentary elections, which he lost by a very narrow margin, his opponent again being Romano Prodi. He was re-elected in the parliamentary elections of
April 2008 following the collapse of Prodi's government and sworn in for a third time as Prime Minister on 8 May 2008.
Berlusconi was criticised for his dominance over the Italian media whilst he held political office. His broadcasting company Mediaset is the largest in the country and one of the biggest in
Europe, Berlusconi never fulfilled his election promises to sell off his assets in the company to avoid a conflict of interest. His leadership was also undermined by sex scandals. After losing his majority in parliament amid growing fiscal problems related to the
European debt crisis, Berlusconi officially resigned as Prime Minister on
16 November 2011.
In 2012, Forbes magazine reported that Berlusconi was Italy's sixth richest man, with a net worth of $5.9 billion. He holds significant assets in television, newspapers, publishing, cinema, finance, banking, insurance, and sport. Berlusconi's main company, Mediaset, comprises three national television channels covering half of the national television sector; and Publitalia, the leading Italian advertising and publicity agency. Berlusconi also owns a controlling stake in
Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, the largest Italian publishing house, whose publications include
Panorama, one of the country's most popular news magazines. His brother,
Paolo Berlusconi, owns and operates il
Giornale, a centre-right wing newspaper which provides a pro-Berlusconi slant on
Italian politics. Il Foglio, one of the most influential Italian right-wing newspapers, is partially owned by his wife,
Veronica Lario. After Lario sold some of her ownership in
2010, Paolo Berlusconi acquired a majority interest in the newspaper. Berlusconi is also the founder and major shareholder of Fininvest, which is among the largest private companies in Italy and operates in media and finance. With
Ennio Doris he founded
Mediolanum, one of the country's biggest banking and insurance groups. He has interests in cinema and home video distribution (
Medusa Film and
Penta Film). He is also the owner of the football club A.C. Milan which along with
Boca Juniors has won the most
FIFA recognized international club titles in the world. After his resignation as prime minister of Italy, he announced that he will return as president of A.C. Milan in 2012.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_Berlusconi
- published: 08 Jun 2012
- views: 27478