What all the celebratory obituaries in Italy for the “Cavaliere” cannot hide: The now deceased Silvio Berlusconi systematically damaged the rule of law out of sheer self-interest.
Italy is always great opera, lots of spectacle, loud and entertaining, in everyday life as well as in politics. That’s why you have to dim down the sheer exuberant emotions that Silvio Berlusconi’s death unleashed a little. The time from the news on Monday morning to the state ceremony on Wednesday afternoon in Milan Cathedral and probably even longer is a state of emergency in the media. One obituary follows the next, 20 pages of focused reporting per newspaper are almost the lower limit. Everyone sends their condolences, and many political opponents also find surprisingly warm words for the “Cavaliere” – as if an impeccable person of respect were different and not a questionable self-promoter in a special class. Only a few celebrities manage to escape this pull. There is talk of the end of an era, at least, and the fear resonates: how is it going to continue now without him?