Arrivederci Berlusconi

From TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com:
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. In just a matter of days, two of Europe's most venerable leaders have been toppled. George Papandreou was the third member of the Papandreou dynasty to be prime minister of Greece. Silvio Berlusconi had dominated Italian politics for nearly two decades. But now they are both heading out the door and the international media have been reporting on their resignations with the kind of enthusiasm that is normally reserved for sporting events. "Down goes Papandreou! Down goes Berlusconi!" If you didn't know better, you would almost be tempted to think that some of the recent news reports were describing a boxing match. But this is what happens when debt problems spiral out of control. It is the leaders who take the fall. So will the resignations of Papandreou and Berlusconi help anything? Of course not. Europe is still headed for a financial collapse of epic proportions...

Full Article:
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/arrivederci-berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi: girls and marijuana on his private jet

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/8109011/Silvio-Berlusconi-girls-and-marijuana-on-his-private-jet.html

Silvio Berlusconi: girls and marijuana on his private jet
Most Italians thought Silvio Berlusconi could not drag their country's reputation any lower. But on Wednesday the sleaze allegations against the Italian prime minister plumbed new depths when a call girl claimed that his private jet was used to supply marijuana to sex parties at his villa in Sardinia.
Nick Squires in Rome
03 Nov 2010

Nadia Macri', 28, has told investigators the billionaire premier paid her €10,000 (£8,738) for intercourse when she visited him at Villa Certosa in Sardinia last year and at Arcore, his private residence outside Milan in April.

Miss Macri', an aspiring model and television showgirl who dreamed of appearing on the Italian equivalent of Big Brother, claimed marijuana joints were provided for about 25 young women who had been invited to Villa Certosa, where Mr Berlusconi has entertained Tony Blair and Vladimir Putin.

"There was grass available in all the rooms, it had been brought in on the prime minister's private jet," she told investigators, according to transcripts published by several Italian newspapers. "I saw a number of guests smoking, but never the prime minister."

The claims surfaced in an unrelated investigation into a cocaine trafficking ring allegedly involving Perla Genovesi, a former official in Mr Berlusconi's People of Freedom Party who is now a police whistle-blower. In 300 pages of testimony recorded last month, Miss Macri' said: "I've been to Berlusconi's homes three times, but we had sex on only on two occasions: once in Sardinia and once at Arcore. He gave me €10,000 and other small presents. He personally gave me the money in an envelope."

The allegations were denied by Niccolo Ghedini, Mr Berlusconi's lawyer. "This is about declarations which have already been dismissed by other witnesses … parties at Villa Certosa are always conducted with the utmost propriety."

Miss Macri' claimed she was introduced to the 74-year-old media mogul by Lele Mora, a celebrity agent who has been mentioned by other women connected to the prime minister, and who is being investigated on charges of aiding and abetting prostitution. Aspiring actresses and models were reportedly put through a kind of selection process by a 79-year-old close media friend of Mr Berlusconi.

Many of the details of her statement echoed claims made by an 18-year-old Moroccan belly dancer who says she too attended private parties at the prime minister's home. Karima El Mahroug, who called herself on her Facebook page Ruby Rubacuori or Ruby Stealer of Hearts, has denied that she slept with the prime minister.

The most damaging element of her reported relationship with the prime minister is that he allegedly ordered police in Milan to release her from custody when she was arrested on theft charges in May, claiming that she was the granddaughter of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president.

Miss El Mahroug also revealed that Mr Berlusconi has a marble statue of himself as Superman at his Sardinian villa.

Talking of a party at the villa she said: “I was sat next to Silvio. We talked about everything except politics and he made fun of the opposition leader Pier Luigi Bersani.

“Then he showed us a marble statue of Superman that had his (Berlusconi’s) face.”

Silvio Berlusconi 'sex tapes' released

From The Konformist continuing series: "Why Silvio Berlusconi Is the Coolest World Leader":

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6724839.ece

From The Times July 23, 2009
Silvio Berlusconi 'sex tapes' released
Josephine McKenna in Rome

The saga of Silvio Berlusconi and the call girl took another twist yesterday with the release of a tape allegedly recorded while the pair were having sex and then discussing his performance.

In the third series of tapes and transcripts published this week by the left-leaning weekly L’Espresso, the woman, Patrizia D’Addario, apparently flatters the 72-year-old Prime Minister, adding: “You know how long it has been since I had sex like I had with you tonight ... It’s several months, since I broke up with my boyfriend ... Is this normal?”

A voice said to be that of Mr Berlusconi credits his performance as “a family thing”, then advises Ms D’Addario, 42, on sexual practices.

The tapes deepened the political outrage in Italy. Massimo Donadi, parliamentary leader of the left-wing Italy of Values party, called the Prime Minister’s behaviour “morally reprehensible”. Dario Franceschini, leader of the main centre-left opposition, said Mr Berlusconi was trapped in his own reality show.

The tapes, the third instalment of Mr Berlusconi’s encounter with Ms D’Addario, released over the past three days, left Italy wondering what would come next. There was no comment from Mr Berlusconi’s office. The previous day he had tried to shrug off the scandal by saying: “I’m no saint.”

After recordings in which Mr Berlusconi apparently asks Ms D’Addario to “wait for him in the big bed”, yesterday’s tapes took the listener inside the bedroom as the couple had intimate relations. He apparently tells her: “You should have sex with yourself — you should touch yourself often.”

In another tape, dated October 5, 2008, also released yesterday, the Prime Minister is allegedly heard showing Ms D’Addario around his Sardinian holiday home, Villa Certosa, where he has been known to invite attractive young women for parties.

On a tour of his 120-hectare (300 acre) property, Mr Berlusconi is recorded showing Ms D’Addario a lake that has swans. He tells her that 30 Phoenician tombs dating back to 300BC were found there.

Speaking on a video on the website of the Italian daily La Repubblica, owned by the Espresso group, Mr Franceschini, the Democratic Party leader, said: “There are many leaders, also from the centre Right, that keep a very clear division between their political and personal life. He instead chose to combine his public and private life from the very beginning. He now remains a prisoner of the same reality show.” The date of the alleged bedroom encounter was not given but Ms D’Addario was said to have been hired by Gianpaolo Tarantini, a businessman under investigation for corruption and abetting prostitution, to go to the Prime Minister’s residence in Rome twice in mid-October and on the night of November 4 last year.

In tapes and transcripts published earlier, Ms D’Addario was purportedly heard discussing her appointment in October with Mr Tarantini. He said that Mr Berlusconi would not be “taking you like an escort — he will be taking you as a friend of mine that I brought along” and that the Prime Minister did not use condoms.

Last night Mr Berlusconi’s lawyers said that they might sue.

At a meeting of his centre-right People of Freedom party, the Prime Minister said in an apparent reference to the tapes: “We let people keep their mobile phones because, at least when I am there, no inelegant situations can arise.” He has not denied that the woman went to his house but has said he did not know she was an escort.

The transcript included this exchange:

PD A young man would have come in a second.. I mean he would have come... Young men usually have a lot of pressure.

SB But if you will you allow me... (muffled) I believe it is a family thing.

PD What?

SB Having an orgasm.

PD You know how long it has been since I had sex like I had with you tonight. It’s several months, since I broke with my boyfriend. Is this normal?

SB May I? You should have sex with yourself. You should touch yourself often.

Why Berlusconi is the World's Coolest Leader

The Konformist koverage kontinue's...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/5760120/Silvio-Berlusconi-picks-former-topless-model-Mara-Carfagna-as-G8-escort.html

Silvio Berlusconi picks former topless model Mara Carfagna as G8 escort
Faced with the thorny problem of having no "First Lady" to look after the G8 leaders' spouses on their three day trip to Italy, Silvio Berlusconi has come up with a solution in keeping with his reputation.
By Nick Squires in Rome
06 Jul 2009

The Italian prime minister has asked a former topless model turned government minister to stand in for his estranged wife.

The 72-year-old premier has chosen Mara Carfagna – now Italy's equal opportunities minister – to take care of the likes of Michelle Obama and Sarah Brown.

Miss Carfagna, 33, is an ex-glamour girl whose sultry looks and portfolio of lingerie calendars earned her the title of the world's sexiest government minister from men's magazine Maxim.

The one-time Miss Italy contestant will be supported in the role by another attractive young member of the cabinet, education minister Maria Stella Gelmini.

Mr Berlusconi is said to have chosen Miss Carfagna and Miss Gelmini to reward them for being "staunch champions" as he has battled allegations that he slept with a high-class call-girl at his mansion in Rome last November. Together they will guide the G8 wives around Rome and the mountain town of L'Aquila 65 miles away, where the summit is being held from Wednesday to Friday.

But the appointment of the pair has reportedly sparked a "cold war" with two of Mr Berlusconi's other favourites, youth minister Giorgia Meloni and environment minister Stefania Prestigiacomo.

Miss Meloni has been forced to deny she felt snubbed, saying she had other G8 duties to attend to: "I can't see what all the fuss is about."

There had been intense speculation over how Mr Berlusconi would solve the problem of no longer having a First Lady of his own when it came to hosting the G8.

Veronica Lario, a former actress who first caught his eye when she appeared on stage topless, announced in early May that she wanted a divorce.

She condemned as "shameless rubbish" a plan by his People of Freedom party to promote showgirls and starlets as Italy's candidates in the European elections.

She also accused him of "frequenting minors" after he dropped in on a Naples disco to attend the 18th birthday party of Noemi Letizia, a blonde lingerie model, and gave her a gold and diamond necklace worth more than £5,000.

Mr Berlusconi's private life has become even more turbulent since then. He was accused of misusing government aircraft to fly guests to private parties at his luxury villa in Sardinia.

A Spanish newspaper also published photographs of women wearing only bikini thongs taking outdoor showers and lounging in the sun by the villa's swimming pools.

Then came the allegation that women were paid to attend his parties and that one of them, Patrizia D'Addario, 42, spent the night with him at his residence in Rome, Palazzo Grazioli.

The G8 spouses will tomorrow [wed] have an audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican, and then be taken on a tour of the devastation caused by the massive earthquake which hit L'Aquila on April 6, killing nearly 300 people and leaving thousands homeless.

They will also visit museums in Rome and have a meeting with UN food agencies based in the capital on the role of women in fighting hunger.

The choice of chaperone is likely to quicken the pulse of the only man in the group, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's husband, Joachim Sauer.

Rumours have swirled around the nature of Mr Berlusconi's relationship with Miss Carfagna since he joked to the one-time showgirl at an awards dinner two years ago: "If I was not already married, I would run off with you immediately."

His furious wife, Veronica Lario, 52, complained publicly and he was forced to issue an apology. But that did not stop him from promoting Miss Carfagna to the cabinet as soon as he got the chance.

When a female comedian joked last year that she was only made an MP because she gave sexual favours to Mr Berlusconi, she announced she would sue for one million euros (£790,000).

Is the party over for Silvio Berlusconi?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/5599641/Is-the-party-over-for-Silvio-Berlusconi.html

Is the party over for Silvio Berlusconi?
As sex scandals escalate around him, the Italian prime minister is looking increasingly vulnerable, says Nick Squires.
By Nick Squires22 Jun 2009

For years, millions of hot-blooded Italian men have secretly wished they could gatecrash one of the parties hosted by their ebullient prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, featuring scantily-clad starlets and models, and endless bottles of expensive wine.

But now the bacchanalian gatherings are coming back to haunt Mr Berlusconi. The billionaire businessman, 72, is trying desperately to fend off allegations that an acquaintance paid call girls, wannabe actresses and models to attend the parties. Uncharacteristically, the scandal seems to be getting to him. He is tired, flustered – and worried, because it is threatening to overshadow his hosting of the G8 summit in L'Aquila next month. A national joke is turning into an international humiliation.

Attention is focused on a party that the prime minister held at his Rome palazzo on the evening of November 4 last year – the night of the US presidential election. A couple of days ago, one of the young women who attended the event, former Miss Italy contestant Barbara Montereale, 23, dropped a bombshell by claiming that Mr Berlusconi went to bed with another of the women in attendance, Patrizia D'Addario, 42, who was allegedly promised 2,000 euros (£1,700), and who herself claimed that when she saw the gathered women, she thought: "But this is a harem."

Then, yesterday a third young woman came forward, claiming to have details of the candlelit soirée. Lucia Rossini alleged that her invitation to Mr Berlusconi's palazzo, near Rome's Piazza Venezia, came from a businessman and acquaintance of the prime minister, Giampaolo Tarantini, 35, whom she claimed she knew from her home town of Bari. "Why don't you come with me to a party in Rome?" Mr Tarantini allegedly had asked her at the end of October last year. The three women were supposedly paid to fly to the capital and put up at the exclusive Hotel de Russie.

It is claimed they were driven to Mr Berlusconi's home, Palazzo Grazioli, in a car with tinted windows, arriving there around 11pm. They were greeted by Mr Berlusconi, who is said to have told Miss D'Addario: "I'm happy to see you again." She claimed he was wearing a large amount of orange make-up.

Over the next two or three hours, he reportedly entertained them with bawdy jokes, songs – the former cruise-ship crooner is well known for his love of belting out traditional Neapolitan ballads such as O Sole Mio – and video footage of a meeting with President George W Bush at the White House, which Miss D'Addario described as painfully dull.

At one point Mr Berlusconi excused himself from his glamorous guests – he had to go off and make a statement on Obama's historic victory. "He told me to wait around because he wanted to have breakfast with me," Miss D'Addario claimed. At the end of the evening the three women were allegedly given presents – pendants and brooches in the shape of butterflies and tortoises. Miss Rossini and Miss Montereale, who was pictured in Italian newspapers in a low-cut top showing off the jewellery and claiming that the pieces were designed by the prime minister himself, said goodnight and were taken back to their hotel. But Miss D'Addario stayed behind.

Miss Rossini claimed she was too discreet to ask why. "The things that I imagined had happened, I kept to myself," she said coyly. But her companion, Miss Montereale, had no such inhibitions, claiming that there was a sexual encounter between the call girl and the prime minister.

Miss D'Addario, a single mother who claims she once worked as an assistant to the American television magician David Copperfield, allegedly described what happened that night to prosecutors in Bari. As happens so often in Italy, the details were leaked to the press.

"Go and wait for me in the big bed," the prime minister allegedly said, telling her he was going to take a shower. While he was away she claims to have used her mobile phone to film herself in the room, which contained a framed photograph of Mr Berlusconi's wife, Veronica Lario. This was six months before she accused him of "consorting with minors" and said she wanted a divorce.

The scandal, which now threatens to engulf Italy's centre-Right government, erupted last week following a corruption investigation in the southern port of Bari which had nothing to do with Il Cavaliere, as Italians call Mr Berlusconi.

In the course of wire-tapping Mr Tarantini and his brother over allegations that they had engaged in corruption in winning contracts for supplying equipment to hospitals, Italy's Guardia di Finanza, or Fraud Squad, allegedly overheard them talking about recruiting young women for the prime minister's parties. As a result, chief prosecutor Giuseppe Scelsi launched an investigation into Giampaolo Tarantini for allegedly abetting prostitution. He has denied the accusation, saying any money the women received was reimbursement for "expenses" such as travel and hotel bills. The government has been under siege ever since.

Mr Berlusconi appears to think he can ride out the scandal, despite the daily revelations of alleged sleaze, and has angrily described the stories that have dominated the Italian press this week as "rubbish". Yesterday, asked what his response was to the latest allegations, he told journalists: "I'll hang tough."

Mr Berlusconi has said that the allegations are part of a Left-wing plot to discredit him. But there is also speculation that they have surfaced to torpedo his suspected ambitions to alter the constitution so he can become president.

The prime minister, who is not under investigation himself, has told his closest supporters to draw a veil of silence over the affair, and not talk to the press. But stonewalling will fail to stem the growing clamour of criticism against him, not only from his political opponents, who have said he should explain his conduct or resign, but also from conservative newspaper editors and the Catholic Church.

The unfolding scandal has revealed intriguing insights into how Mr Berlusconi weaves the spider's web of gorgeous young women that surround him. Attractive girls flock to Mr Berlusconi's court in the hope of launching careers on the variety television programmes that Italians are so fond of, or as presenters, weather girls or even politicians. Berlusconi's party touted a former Miss Italy entrant, Barbara Matera, and a busty Big Brother contestant as candidates for the recent European elections.

Several women, including the 18-year-old underwear model Noemi Letizia whose birthday party he attended, have said they refer affectionately to Mr Berlusconi as "Papi", or Daddy.

It is not yet clear to what extent the scandals are denting Mr Berlusconi's popularity. Many Italians – particularly men – are unfazed by the shenanigans. "What do you expect him to do when all these gorgeous girls are throwing themselves at him?" said a well-dressed businessman enjoying a cappuccino in the Piazza Navona yesterday.

But observers say the affair is taking its toll on the elderly politician. "He is flustered, because he hasn't been able to control the narrative that has been pushed against him," said James Walston, a professor at the American University in Rome. Senior ministers have rallied round, but some of his own party members worry that Mr Berlusconi may finally have pushed the tolerance of Italians too far.

The big test, of course, will come early next month, when the world's most powerful leaders, including the US President and Gordon Brown, will gather at the G8 summit in L'Aquila. With more unseemly revelations about the prime minister's private life expected to emerge, it is an event that the squeaky-clean American President, and even the beleaguered Mr Brown, are probably dreading.

Silvio: Sex is no fun if you have to pay!

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?Silvio:_Sex_is_no_fun_if_you_have_to_pay!&in_article_id=690894&in_page_id=34

Silvio: Sex is no fun if you have to pay!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Silvio Berlusconi has hit back at rumours that he has used escort girls, saying he has 'never paid for sex'.

Breaking his silence over rumours of debauched parties held at his villas, the Italian prime minister also said he had 'nothing to apologise for'.

'I have never paid for a woman – I have never understood what satisfaction one gets from that if there is no pleasure of conquest,' he added.

The 72-year-old has been under intense pressure since the weekend when it emerged that escort girls had been guests at parties held in his luxury villas.

Model Barbara Montereale, 23, claimed escort girl Patrizia D'Addario, 42, told her she had been paid to have sex with the billionaire politician . But Mr Berlusconi insisted he was the victim of a smear campaign. 'Behind Patrizia D'Addario is someone who is out to get me and she (Patrizia) has been paid well, they have a precise mandate against me,' he told glossy Italian news weekly Chi.

Asked if he suspected the escorts had been part of a honey trap, the premier replied: 'If I had any idea I would have stayed well away from such a person.

'I have nothing to be sorry about, I don't have to apologise.'

Mr Berlusconi also spoke about his divorce from his wife Veronica Lario, 52, and said it was a 'deep wound' but they had had a 'fantastic love story'.

'True love stories are never forgotten. I am fine, sad but fine. I just think about my mother every day and how she taught me never to be afraid of anyone,' he added.

Silvio Berlusconi keeps smiling

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/22/silvio-berlusconi-italy-sex-scandal

Silvio Berlusconi keeps smiling as sex scandal gets deeper by the day
Prime minister attempts to carry on as normal despite further revelations
Tom Kington in Rome
The Guardian, Tuesday 23 June 2009

If Silvio Berlusconi fears four years of being a lame duck prime minister as a result of the sex scandal engulfing him, he was not showing it at the weekend as he went on a walkabout in Milan, kissing babies, discussing which AC Milan players he might sell and sketching out his political agenda to a crowd of admirers.

"He was talking about what plans he has for 2010; he clearly intends to ignore everything, waiting for it to blow over," said Raffaele De Mucci, a professor of political science at Luiss University in Rome.

Tom Kington: 'There is distinct unease among many of his allies' Link to this audio It is unlikely that it will blow over by the time the world's leaders arrive in Italy next month for the G8 conference. Magistrates in the southern city of Bari are pushing on with an investigation into a possible prostitution racket and are getting ready to question 30 women, some of whom are suspected to have been paid by a local businessman to attend five parties held by Berlusconi, La Repubblica reported yesterday.

One of the guests already questioned – model Barbara Montereale – has alleged that a paid escort, Patrizia D'Addario, slept with the prime minister on 4 November. Yesterday, Montereale released photographs she alleges she took as souvenirs in Berlusconi's bathroom and described the large number of eastern European women she says she met during a visit to his villa in Sardinia.

"They seemed at home, were on familiar terms with the prime minister and all called him Papi," she told La Repubblica, adding that she saw the girls dressed as Father Christmas in a video shown of an earlier party. "They were a bit jealous of each other and in competition to see who could get closer [to Berlusconi]."

Berlusconi's troubles with the opposite sex have advanced since May, when he fought against accusations of consorting with minors after attending the 18th birthday party of Noemi Letizia, an aspiring model who called the 72-year-old "Papi" during private conversations on the phone.

That was enough to push Berlusconi's wife to ask for a divorce. The Bari inquiry could go further and rattle the foundations of the Italian government, said De Mucci. "The fewer votes Berlusconi got in the EU elections, the noisy protests at his recent rallies, all showed a drop in his support because of the scandal," he said.

"Now his allies are disoriented, the electorate's faith in the governing class will be further weakened and he risks losing the political capital he built up with his handling of the Abruzzo earthquake and the Naples rubbish crisis."

De Mucci added that he was not surprised by Berlusconi's recent denouncements of the number of Chinese living in Prato, near Florence, and the number of Africans he saw in Milan.

"The shakier his authority, the more he will lean on the Northern League for support," he said, referring to the anti-immigrant party with which Berlusconi's Freedom People party is allied. "But I doubt he is on his way out. His own party would not continue to exist without him. They would have to reinvent itself and I don't see them doing that."

For the Italian opposition, the question is how vulnerable Berlusconi is to the girls to whom he has thrown open his doors open. Unsatisfied with being named a candidate in local elections for a party in Bari allied to Berlusconi, D'Addario revealed all to the Italian press, reportedly telling Montereale: "This is our moment; I will make him pay and we will become famous like Noemi."

Luigi Zanda, of the opposition Democratic party, said: "Berlusconi has said nothing about how blackmailable he is and the government is ignoring the question."

Judging by his baby kissing at the weekend, Berlusconi feels the scandal will wither. Sandro Bondi, his culture minister, went on the counterattack yesterday, saying that La Repubblica, the left-leaning newspaper that has kept the prime minister under pressure, was "the largest threat to our democracy".

In Rome, the result of the scandal appeared to be an equal stiffening of resolve among the Italians who love Berlusconi and those who loathe him.

"He's got skeletons in his cupboard, but scandals don't count here and he will stay put for his whole five years," said tobacconist Roberta Canini bitterly.

"What scandal?" retorted retired civil servant Eliza Baciocchi at a corner bar on the busy Corso Francia. "Berlusconi is a gentleman when it comes to the ladies and only magistrates and the left see fit to pry into his private life."

Carlo Maschi, a legal assistant, said Berlusconi should be forgiven for his behaviour because he was a businessman, not a politician. "Look at how he kept Angela Merkel waiting when he was on his cellphone. He is made like that and that is fine by me," he said.

It was left to a young women to challenge Berlusconi in Milan. "Ask him about the prostitutes," she yelled at the crowd surrounding the prime minister, before she was hustled away by police.

Why Silvio Berlusconi is the world's coolest leader

Why Silvio Berlusconi is the world's coolest leader...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/5610944/Wives-of-G8-leaders-urged-to-boycott-summit-over-sexist-Berlusconi.html

Wives of G8 leaders urged to boycott summit over 'sexist' Berlusconi
The wives of world leaders who are due to attend the G8 summit in Italy next month have been urged to boycott the event in protest over Silvio Berlusconi's "offensive" attitude to women.
By Nick Squires in Rome
23 Jun 2009

Photo: Lucia Rossini and Barbara Montereale (rt) taking photographs of each other in what they claimed was a bathroom at Silvo Berlusconi's private residence in Rome in 2008

Three Italian female academics are calling on Gordon Brown's wife, Sarah, President Obama's wife, Michele and other leaders' spouses not to attend the gathering in L'Aquila, which will be hosted by the Italian prime minister.

The academics have written an open "Appeal to the First Ladies" and said they were appalled, "as citizens of Italy and Europe", by the attitude displayed towards women by Mr Berlusconi, 72, who is engulfed in scandal over his private life.

They were "profoundly indignant" over his treatment of women "both in public and in private," they said.

In the past two months he has been accused of "consorting with minors" by his wife, Veronica Lario, of having an inappropriate relationship with an 18-year-old underwear model and of sleeping with a high-class call-girl during a private party at his residence in Rome in November.

A businessman acquaintance of the prime minister is being investigated by police and prosecutors in Bari, southern Italy, on suspicion of "abetting prostitution" by allegedly supplying escorts to parties thrown by Mr Berlusconi at his mansion in Rome and his villa in Sardinia.

Mr Berlusconi denies the claims.

The academics accused the prime minister of sexism over plans drawn up by his party, People of Freedom, to promote actresses, a former Big Brother contestant and a Miss Italy model as candidates for the European Parliament elections earlier this month. The proposal was later shelved after Mr Berlusconi's wife called it "shamelessly trashy".

The letter was drawn up by Anne Maass, associate professor of social psychology at Padua University, Chiara Volpato, lecturer in social psychology at Bicocca University, Milan and Angelica Mucchi Faina, lecturer in social psychology at Perugia University.

Berlusconi Reclaims Power in Italy

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gXQv8MgdVWEOKeUsWyQm0Gcv-xcAD901QF301

Berlusconi Reclaims Power in Italy
By ALESSANDRA RIZZO
4-14-8

ROME (AP) — Conservative leader Silvio Berlusconi reclaimed power in key U.S. ally Italy on Monday after clinching decisive victories in both houses of parliament.

The 71-year-old media mogul was congratulated by his main rival, former Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni, who conceded defeat even though the vote counting was still under way.

"The election result is clear even if we wait for the final data," said Veltroni. "It says that the right will govern this country."

Berlusconi, who was in his villa near Milan, made no immediate statement, just waving as he passed in his Mercedes.

In the Senate — a race that had been expected to be close — Berlusconi was projected to win 163 seats compared to 141 for Veltroni. The body has 315 seats.

In the lower house, Berlusconi's conservative bloc was leading with 46 percent of the vote to 39 percent for Veltroni's backers.

In Italy's bicameral system, premiers must have control of both houses to govern.

The victory for Berlusconi is testament to his political longevity — and sees him return to power after two years of center-left rule by Premier Romano Prodi left Italy with a stagnating economy.

This was Berlusconi's fifth consecutive attempt at the premiership — and third win — since 1994, when he stepped into politics from his media empire. He has fended off challenges to his leadership by his conservative allies, survived conflict of interests accusations and criminal trials.

"I think it was a vote against the performance of the Prodi government in the last two years," said Franco Pavoncello, a political science professor at Rome's John Cabot University. "Berlusconi won because he has a strong coalition and because people feel that on the other side, the government is going to take them nowhere."

A sense of malaise hung over the elections as Italians cast ballots Sunday and Monday.

Many Italians are pessimistic that the ruling class — dominated for years by the same key figures — can offer much chance of change. They complain about the poor state of the economy and the fact that their purchasing power has decreased.

Signs of decline abound, from piles of trash in Naples, to a buffalo mozzarella heath scare that has hurt exports and hit one of the country's culinary treasures, to the faltering sale of the state airline Alitalia.

A movement led by comedian-turned-moralizer Beppe Grillo had invited Italians to boycott the vote.

However, turnout was only 4 points behind the last national vote in 2006 — 80 percent compared with 84 percent, according to data from the Interior Ministry.

In his comeback, Berlusconi has been helped by a strong showing by the Northern League, a key ally, which has won about 6 percent of the vote, according to projections.

Berlusconi has no easy task.

A laundry list of problems await him, from cleaning the streets of Naples, which he has indicated is his top priority, to improving an economy that has underperformed the rest of the euro zone for years.

The International Monetary Fund forecasts that the Italian economy, the world's seventh largest, will grow 0.3 percent this year, compared with a 1.4 percent average growth for the 15-country euro area.

Berlusconi will also need to make economic reforms, such as streamlining the decision-making progress and cutting the costs associated with politics. Changes in the election law are also on the agenda.