EPP President Weber: Election campaign help for Berlusconi

There is an election campaign in Italy – and CSU Deputy Weber publicly supports the controversial ex-Prime Minister Berlusconi. This causes irritation not only in other parties, but also in the Union.

The campaign video could not be more harmonious. Large orchestra in the background, a villa in Lombardy, old walls entwined with vines. Silvio Berlusconi and Manfred Weber side by side, Berlusconi hooked himself under the CSU politician. Nothing fits between us, the director might have thought.

The music builds through a crescendo to a climax. “Good evening!” shouts Berlusconi to the Italian electorate. “I am pleased to introduce you to Manfred Weber!” Admiration resonates in his voice, as well as emotion. “Our president, the president of the most important family of European parties. The European People’s Party.”

It is not surprising that Berlusconi is happy about the support of the Christian Social. The ex-Prime Minister, who has been sentenced to prison, could use serious advocates. But why is the leader of the European People’s Party committed to the now 85-year-old? Because he is an experienced politician, Manfred Weber explains in the joint campaign video. “A guardian of pro-European politics in Italy.”

Lots of criminal cases – and the bunga bunga parties

A few days after the shooting, Weber is back in Brussels. There has been criticism of his support for Berlusconi, including from within his own ranks. In conversations with journalists, Weber defends his course. It’s completely normal to support Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, after all it’s part of the Christian Democratic party family. “We share the same basic values,” says Weber, listing: “Pro-European, pro-Ukraine, pro-transatlantic, all based on the rule of law.”

Berlusconi would probably not accuse himself of being too faithful to the rule of law. Countless criminal proceedings for corruption, fraud and accounting falsification, one of which was sentenced to four years in prison. But they are shortened, because of his old age it is only a few months of community service. As prime minister, Berlusconi has his lawyers ensure that other criminal proceedings fizzle out – so that processes become statute-barred or laws are changed afterwards.

And then the bunga bunga parties. A harmless word for older men having sex with minors. 17-year-old Ruby was considered Berlusconi’s favourite, and the process has not yet been completed. Most recently, it was about the bribery of witnesses and false statements, the Italian public prosecutor’s office is demanding six years in prison for Berlusconi.

Weber: “He believes in Europe”

Why does such a man get campaign help for his political comeback from the leader of Europe’s Christian Democrats? A politician whom the judiciary suspended for six years in one of the few completed trials and strictly forbade him to hold any public office during this time? “He believes in Europe,” Weber tries to answer. In addition, Berlusconi “as a businessman knows how important Europe is”.

That’s correct. Berlusconi made his first big bucks in real estate. Then he became the tycoon of a media empire. As early as the 1980s he expanded into the European media market, with “La Cinq” in France and until 1992 with “Tele 5” in Germany.

“Europe needs a stable centre-right government in Rome,” explains Weber, with a view to the elections in two weeks. Weber sees his party colleague Berlusconi as the representative of the centre. In fact, the other two coalition partners are still clearly to the right of Berlusconi. Matteo Salvini’s nationalist League and the Italian brothers led by Giorgia Meloni, who critics accuse of having an unclear relationship with fascism.

Skepticism among Union politicians

Some Union politicians do not see the alliance with the ultra-nationalists as calmly as their party leader Weber. “In my opinion, people like Ms. Meloni and Mr. Salvini cannot be partners for Christian Democrats,” says Dennis Radtke, CDU MEP, in an interview with the ARD studio Brussels. “Because they don’t share our values, they trample on them” The CDU politician from the Ruhr area sees the danger that the radicalism of the Italian brothers will be disguised by clever rhetoric and marketing. “Similar to Le Pen,” says Radtke, “one has moved away from the very shrill tones.” But the change in tone doesn’t change anything “at the post-fascist core of this party”.

The strategy appears to be winning over voters. Meloni’s brothers are clearly ahead in the three-way alliance two weeks before the election, with 24 percent approval. Salvini’s Lega follows with 13 percent, well behind Berlusconi’s Forza Italia with eight percent.

Beer: “Not worth supporting”

Criticism of Weber’s coziness with Berlusconi outside the Union ranks in the European Parliament has been severe. “I’m pretty shocked,” says Jens Geier, chairman of the SPD group, “that a Christian Democratic party is becoming a democratic fig leaf of a right-wing extremist alliance.” Geier sees “huge problems” in store for the EU if Italy is governed by the three-way alliance.

Geier reminds that Silvio Berlusconi has been a member of the European Parliament since 2019 – but the Italian is one of the MPs who most often skip meetings. In fact, a written query dated March 14 is listed on Berlusconi’s MEPs page under the “Recent Activities” section. At the time, Berlusconi wanted to know from the Commission what it intends to do to protect the transport industry in view of the high oil prices. After that, no further activities followed.

The Vice President of Parliament, the FDP politician Nicola Beer, the boss and inventor of Forza Italia, finds “not worth supporting”. And the Greens consider Weber’s course to be at least “strange”. Berlusconi is a shady politician who “has had to answer several times for corruption and other affairs,” says Green party spokesman Rasmus Andresen.