Silvio Berlusconi Campaigns for Reelection
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN HOST: Smooth operator. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is used to smiling for the cameras. After all, he owns quite a few of them. But will Italian voters pull the plug on this TV tycoons reelection bid? Hello and welcome to INSIGHT. I'm Colleen McEdwards. He is king of an empire and that title was self-made. But if Silvio Berlusconi wants to continue being Italian prime minister, he will have to earn it this weekend. Beginning Sunday, voters will chose between Mr. Berlusconi's conservatives or challenger Romano Prodi's central left coalition. On television, the campaign has been dominated by Mr. Berlusconi, the leader who really has the Midas touch in the media. Mr. Prodi is far less camera ready, but some think that is part of his appeal. The campaign has been close and contentious. Alessio Vinci has more now on Mr. Berlusconi, a man who basks in the spotlight of Italian politics.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Berlusconi...</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Berlusconi...</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Berlusconi...</s>ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF (voice over): Silvio Berlusconi knows how to steal the headlines. Hardly a day went by in this election campaign when the conservative prime minister did not say something that made Italians clap or cringe. He vowed to give up sex until election day, compared himself to Jesus and Napoleon, promised he would abolish taxes and homeownership, and branded those who would not vote for him as "morons," using a vulgar Italian slang word for testicles.</s>BEPPE SEVERGNINI, JOURNALIST: quite a few people are appalled. But very often, they are the people that are not going to vote for him anyway. But the man on the street says, "Oh, he's a man of the people. Here he is, you know, he talks like us. He's afraid of getting bull (ph), as we are."</s>VINCI: The prime minister has been trailing in the opinion polls, but in January he began to narrow the gap by embarking on a month-long media blitz that put him on television almost every night, both on private networks he owns and on state channels his coalition controls. That was supposed to end in February when campaign rules impose equal television access time to all candidates, but observers like Paul Ginsborg, author of a book about Berlusconi's TV power, says the equal time rule, know here as</s>PAUL GINSBORG, HISTORIAN: Although there is no authority to control television broadcasting, it has no teeth. It is a completely toothless dog.</s>VINCI: News directors working for Berlusconi channels disagree. As commercial TV is surviving on advertising, they say, it's not Berlusconi who calls the shots, but viewers. Carlos Rossella leads Italy's TG5, the main evening news watched by millions every night.</s>CARLOS ROSSELLA, TG5 NEWS DIRECTOR: I am a friend of Berlusconi, but when I am the editor of TG5 and a journalist who works with TG5</s>VINCI: Enrico Montana used to lead the TG5 until he was replaced by Rossella a year ago. "I was sent away precisely because I would have acted differently during this election campaign," he says. "There is no doubt that the mass media, and television in particular, has paid more attention to Berlusconi than to his opponents." But Montana continues to work for Berlusconi's station and even interviewed him during the campaign. But, he says, the prime minister's opponent, center left coalition leader Romano Prodi, refuses to appear on his show, insisting Berlusconi's channels are biased against him. Prodi said that in 1996, the year he was elected prime minister over Berlusconi, the imbalance wasn't as deep. "Back then, he didn't control public television," he says. "Now, he owns private television and controls public television, so the imbalance has increased even further." But on Wednesday, Berlusconi backed out of a primetime appearance because Prodi refused an invitation to take part. At a rally in the evening, the prime minister lasted out at the opposition coalition for exploiting the equal time rule. "When Prodi refused to appear tonight," he thundered, "the TV station invited other opposition leaders. They refused. They even invited editors of leftwing newspapers, but the Journalist Association," he says, "warned them not to go." But for all the favorable television access Berlusconi may have had, he's also gotten his fair share of rough willing (ph), which does not sit well with the prime minister. On one occasion, he stormed out of a television studio after being pressed on why his media company posted large revenues while others in the same sector did not.</s>LUCIA ANNUNZIATA, JOURNALIST: After five years of his power in Italy, the national public television ended up with minus 25 million euro in advertising, and his company plus 500 million in advertising. So I challenge him on that point.</s>VINCI: Is that because of the conflict of interest?</s>ANNUNZIATA: If you are the major owner of a major television network, and you also are the head of the government, obviously there is some sort of a fatal attraction between you and the people who give money for advertising.</s>VINCI: Berlusconi's allies reject allegations the prime minister adopted legislation favoring his businesses and that parliament passed laws to help him avoid a trial on charges of false accounting. Berlusconi's office turned down numerous CNN requests for an interview.</s>SEVERGNINI: Italians are resigned to the idea that once you are in power, people are going to do their own interests and business anyway. That's an idea that goes back probably to the</s>VINCI: The media tycoon turned politician did not limit his campaign to television. Drawing from his own bank account, he spent 3 million euros to send this glossy magazine to 11 million families across the nation, featuring his successes at home and abroad, paying homage to the late Pope John Paul II and at one point claiming that U2 rock star Bono was grateful for Italian government efforts to aid poor countries. Days later Bono replied that Berlusconi had yet to fulfill donation promises. Analysts suggest that Berlusconi has spent close to 40 million euros on his campaign, nearly three times what his opponent has.</s>RENATO MANNHEIMER, POLLSTER: The problem is that Berlusconi has lost the one thing that money cannot buy, credibility. You see, when he promises something, people think yes, but he has promised another thing four years or five years ago and he hasn't done it.</s>VINCI: Not so say Berlusconi supporters, like this former factory worker. "With just a few words, Berlusconi does what he promises he'll do," says Luigi, who has always voted for the left until now. "He has convinced me and I'm here to vote for him." (on camera): The country appears evenly split between those who like Berlusconi and those who loathe him. But his supporters here insist their man is the most credible politician Italians have to chose from, and they site the fact that he has led Italy's longest standing government since World War II as proof that his unconventional style of leadership ultimately works. Alessio Vinci, CNN, Rome.</s>MCEDWARDS: We're going to take a break, but when we come back, is the Italian public tired of its leader's glitz and gaffs? We'll have more on Silvio Berlusconi when we return.</s>MCEDWARDS: Celluloid Silvio. A new film is generating a buzz over the Italian leader, though not the type he would like. The movie is about a struggling producer who finds a script about Berlusconi's early life. The film was made by an acclaimed director who is not exactly a fan of the current Italian government. Berlusconi says the movie is horrible. Will the box office affect the ballot? Welcome back. People used to say that elections in Italy didn't matter much. The country was doing well economically, people were happy. But some observers say this time is different, this one really does matter, because Italy is facing economic competition from Asia and Europe like it never has before. Well, to talk more about Silvio Berlusconi's campaign and his prospects, we're joined by Senator Paolo Guzzanti. He is a senator in Mr. Berlusconi's party and also serves on Italy's Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. Senator, good to talk to you. You know, a lot of analysts and some opposition are saying that Mr. Berlusconi's outburst has made him seem almost more like an opposition leader than someone who's ready to lead Italy for another term. What would your response be to that?</s>PAOLO GUZZANTI, ITALIAN SENATE MEMBER: I think that Mr. Berlusconi is perfectly ready for leadership for five more years and, of course, I hope that it will happen. But what is the real point in this electoral campaign is that parts of the electorate, the Berlusconi electorate, which voted for Berlusconi in 2001 now is missing, deserting the polls, didn't pass to the other side because they are in some way frustrated. And the big bet in this election is to understand what is going to be their behavior on Sunday and Monday.</s>MCEDWARDS: That's interesting. What's the root of that frustration, that disillusionment?</s>GUZZANTI: Well, I can give you just my explanation, being a member of the parliament in Mr. Berlusconi's party. And the point is that in Italy, what was expected by Berlusconi's government, by his part of electorate, was what we call liberal revolution, liberal in a different meaning of the American meaning, meaning just democracy, balanced democracy. Because Italy comes from a long, long Cold War still acting in Italian policy. Which sounds strange and old, maybe, abroad, but is very actual here. So what is part of the frustrated Berlusconi electorate is about what didn't happen in order to make Italy more like, similar to the United Kingdom or the United States of America, the vital democracies, and there is still strong resistance, for instance, about the media problem. I know it's impossible to believe abroad, but we've announced exactly the opposite of the problem as you showed it before. Meaning all the press -- all of the press, the Italian press -- is, was and will be against Mr. Berlusconi. And the public service in Italy is made by three different channels. One of them, channel number three, the third channel, is, was and will be only for the Italian left both when they are at the government and they are in the opposition. So there are many tricky things that you cannot may be catch being in America, yes.</s>MCEDWARDS: Yes, it's bizarre looking in from the outside, but still, I mean.</s>GUZZANTI: Yes, it is.</s>MCEDWARDS: But, still, you have this disillusion, that you point out. But you also have Mr. Berlusconi, who had lots of access, who had a full campaign where he took every opportunity to stand up and, you know, compare himself to Napoleon, compare himself to Jesus Christ. I mean, why has he not done a better job in this campaign of selling his success?</s>GUZZANTI: You know, his personality is, of course, flamboyant, and he makes gaff. He is sometimes over talking, his own personality. And this is also why he is loved. Don't forget that Berlusconi won in 1994 and he won the electoral vote even who he lost in 1996. And he won again in 2001. So there is something in his personality, of course, that is charming, attracting the majority of Italian electorate. You know, if anything that were said about Berlusconi was true, in this case the Italian electorate should be considered, I don't know, stupid or tricky, I don't know what. Actually, it's just normal people voting for Berlusconi because Berlusconi made a great job in the infrastructure, which is the reason -- Italy has such poor infrastructure, we have such poor industrial production because we don't have railways, we don't have highways, we don't have</s>MCEDWARDS: Let me ask you about that.</s>GUZZANTI: Yes, please.</s>MCEDWARDS: How important is it, if Mr. Berlusconi wins again, how important is it to get down to the business this time of fixing some of those issues of infrastructure at a time when Italy is facing a whole new Europe, it's facing competition from Asia that wasn't there before?</s>GUZZANTI: The reason is the industrial fabric in Italy is made of a kind of tissue made up of very small companies, which is the reason of the "Made in Italy," old Italian style. It's made by small, small companies that cannot compete with the new coming Asian powers copying everything, especially things that are just made by style, the typical Italian style. And the big companies, like the car industry, Fiat, they never had a real competition in Italy and abroad. They always worked with the state, which is absolutely unacceptable in a modern democracy. So Italy is different, behind the other countries in Europe, and in some ways also ahead because there is a particular thing which is that "Made in Italy," the kind of you want genius, or something, making the difference, and giving us the hope for a new past, a new jump ahead.</s>MCEDWARDS: A new future. Senator Guzzanti, I don't know how close you are to Mr. Berlusconi or how much access you have to him in the final days of the campaign, but it's not long now before voters go to the polls. Do you have a sense from him what he thinks the outcome is going to be? How confident he is? Because one of the things the opposition keeps pointing out, you know, they want people to believe that this is a desperate man saying desperate things because he thinks he's going to lose.</s>GUZZANTI: Of course, if I were them I would say the same thing. I would say something equally nasty about Mr. Romano Prodi. But I won't. The point is, Berlusconi is a very determined man. He's a succeeding businessman, which is something absolutely -- no Italian could be more American style. He is a self-made man and he is very self-confident. He is really thinking -- I'm afraid. I think that possibly we can lose because it is very possible. But he is sure to be the winner, and I hope he's right.</s>MCEDWARDS: All right, Senator Paolo Guzzanti, we have to leave it there. Thank you. It's been a pleasure.</s>GUZZANTI: Thank you.</s>MCEDWARDS: And coming up here on INSIGHT, equal time. A look at challenger Romano Prodi when we come back. Don't go away.</s>MCEDWARDS: There is a silver lining in this year's Italian elections. Voters must chose between 69-year-old Silvio Berlusconi and 66-year-old Romano Prodi. The people who study demographics say Italian citizens are getting a bit grayer themselves. Birth rates are low in the country and the average age is now 42-1/2. Well, Romano Prodi is the leader of a coalition made up of center left parties and a kind of a hodgepodge of other groups, including ex-Christian democrats, Communists and pro-Vatican moderates. The question is, can they win? Well, joining us now to try to answer this is Giovanna Melandri, a member of parliament from the Democratici di Sinistra Party. Ms. Melandri, thank you so much for being here.</s>GIOVANNA MELANDRI, ITALIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: Thank you.</s>MCEDWARDS: We talked earlier about some of the missteps that have been made by Mr. Berlusconi. Mr. Prodi has had his share of them as well. Not to mention his perceived sort of flip-flopping on the issues of taxes. How well has the campaign handled the issues?</s>MELANDRI: Well, you see, I think the campaign has handled prior problems of Italian people, who in fact are, after five years of this government, much more insecure, poorer, have less trust and hope in the future. I think this is a very concrete feeling and very material, and also psychological feeling, that you can grasp in the country.</s>MCEDWARDS: Do you think your party and Mr. Prodi have tapped into that as effectively as they could have?</s>MELANDRI: Well, we've tried to do our best and, you know, to say that Italy needs a fresh start over again and this start, this new start that we need to introduce is made of, you know, a more secure welfare system, more investment in strategic resources that this country does have in abundance, you know, like research and beauty and culture and technology. The problem is that for five years this country has been governed by a man that treated Italy as if this country was his own company. And you can't rule a country like that.</s>MCEDWARDS: You know, Ms. Melandri, you know as well as anyone how easy it is to talk about what Italy needs going forward. It's a lot more difficult to put those policies in place and pay for them. How is Romano Prodi going to pay for some of the things he's promised to do?</s>MELANDRI: Well, first of all, we need to put under control the budget, which unfortunately has been left out of control in these days. And we need to do different policies. We need to invest more in welfare and in research, on education system. And less on other things. And certainly our economic policy and our fiscal policy is very different from what has been put in place in the past years. I think Italy has the resources and there are constraints and those constraints have to be accepted, but it's a question of strategic decisions.</s>MCEDWARDS: You know, Mr. Berlusconi's camp says Romano Prodi is going to raise taxes, he's going to hurt shopkeepers, he's going to hurt the self-employed.</s>MELANDRI: Which is not.</s>MCEDWARDS: Will you? Will the coalition do that if he wins?</s>MELANDRI: No, no. Look, you know, the whole issue of taxes, Berlusconi campaigned five years ago on the promise of less taxation for all, and the result is that only a very few rich, very rich Italians, have paid less taxes. Generally speaking, the middle class in this country and, you know, the big heart of the country, has paid just the same amount of taxes and has less resources in its pocket. So I think the question of paying taxes is very badly addressed. What we are saying is that everybody has to pay taxes according to his or her capacities. And what we cannot accept, which was very largely accepted by Berlusconi's government, was that people did not pay taxes and evaded the fiscal rule.</s>MCEDWARDS: Ms. Melandri, few would quibble with the fact that Mr. Berlusconi has been a master at getting media attention, particularly on television.</s>MELANDRI: Sure.</s>MCEDWARDS: . for the reasons that we well know. How difficult has it been for your party and for the campaign to deal with some of the really rhetorical statements that he's made, you know, saying Italy will be overrun by the Communists if Mr. Prodi is elected, likening himself to Jesus Christ in some cases? As a campaign, how difficult has it been to watch that sort of steal the headlines away from some of the issues?</s>MELANDRI: Well, let me tell you, I have a feeling that we've witnessed two parallel campaigns. There was one campaign played in the media by Senor Berlusconi. Overwhelming presence. I mean, he does, you know, own part of the Italian TV broadcasting system, and he controls the other part. And that was one campaign. The other campaign was out there on the ground with people, asking themselves if they were well and better off today than five years ago. And nobody -- I think his credibility is really going down the drain.</s>MCEDWARDS: All right.</s>MELANDRI: And I think that is the major issue here now at the moment.</s>MCEDWARDS: Credibility.</s>MELANDRI: The credibility issue.</s>MCEDWARDS: Giovanna, we have to leave it there. Giovanna Melandri, thanks so much. Appreciate it.</s>MELANDRI: Thank you. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.</s>MCEDWARDS: All right. And that is it for this edition of INSIGHT. I'm Colleen McEdwards. You're watching CNN. END TO ORDER VIDEOTAPES AND TRANSCRIPTS OF CNN INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMING, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE THE SECURE ONLINE ORDER FROM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com