Silvio Berlusconi in power was the guarantee of improbable moments, implausible outings and appalling remarks. It is all of this that we are going to try to summarize through a few key anecdotes from his political life.
February 8, 2002: Devil’s Horns
This is the official photo of the European summit in Caceres, Spain. Berlusconi can think of nothing better to do than wave the horns at Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique. He will do it again during a photo with a child in Rapallo in Italy.
July 2, 2003: A role of kapo
Italy has just taken over the rotating presidency of the European Union. Silvio Berlusconi, then chairman of the board, fell out with Martin Schulz, a left-wing German MEP, and told him: “Mr. Schulz, I know that in Italy there is a producer who is making a film about the camps of Nazi concentration. I will propose you for the role of kapo. “Scandal! Berlin immediately demands an apology that Berlusconi ends up presenting the next day. He then expressed “his regret at having seen certain people misinterpret the meaning of a line that was intended to be ironic”.
August 2004: The bandana stunt
In the heat of August, Berlusconi shows off, in the company of Tony and Cherie Blair, with a loosely unbuttoned white linen shirt and above all a magnificent white bandana. The Italian press panics, speaks of the “bandana-day” and the “president-pirate”. An improbable outfit but that makes people talk about it. At the time, some had argued that wearing a bandana would have masked a hair transplant operation.
November 10, 2008: Hide and seek with Merkel
Italian-German summit in Trieste, northern Italy. As Angela Merkel arrives, Silvio Berlusconi decides to hide behind the statue in the main square to surprise her. As a regular, the Chancellor gratifies him with a “Silvio! before warm embraces.
November 2008: Obama, the tanned president
November 2008 is definitely Berlusconi’s month. During a press conference in Moscow, he affirms that Barack Obama is “young, handsome and tanned”, and that therefore, he has “everything to agree with Dmitry Medvedev”, then President of Russia. The racist outing is making headlines around the world.
July 2009: Former Czech Prime Minister in Adam’s uniform
The Spanish newspaper El País publishes stolen photos of Berlusconi’s villa in Sardinia. In addition to Berlusconi in the company of young girls in bikinis, we see a naked man at the edge of the swimming pool. It was in fact Mirek Topolanek, former Czech Prime Minister, whose government had fallen a few months earlier.
September 2009: The discomfort with Michelle Obama
While being welcomed by the Obama couple in Pittsburgh, Silvio Berlusconi creates embarrassment by detailing Michelle Obama from head to toe as she holds out her hand to greet her. A sexist attitude that has not at all crossed the Atlantic.