Berlusconi, Is François Hollande stealing the show from you?

Monday, 20 January 2014. Rumours has it Berlusconi's post of “chief clown” (and sleazy politician) of Europe might be at risk, due to François Hollande latest moves.

The rivalry between Italians and Frenchmen is not a novelty, but an escalation of the old competition might be expected... on quite new territory and high level.

Mr Berlusconi – who is pretty a narcissistic person - has clearly been taking care that everybody (in Europe and in the world) know he is the biggest politician-womaniser ever. The pro-Berlusconi Italian newspaper “Il Giornale” likened him to JFK, one of the most famous roué in recent history.

François Hollande and his Italian-made scooter: is he stealing the show from Berlusconi (I mean Hollande, not the scooter)? 

Berlusconi – and quite a few Italians, like Silvio's associate Giuliano Ferrara (and he showed it! Look at this...) – are evidently proud of it (I mean Italian machismo and chauvinism is in the news, everyday. Look at Berlusconi doing work on this video on our YouTube channel!). And now this Frenchman, this François Hollande (they never liked each other, as you can see on this post...), comes up with a new sweetheart – an actress, Julie Gayet, 20 years his junior - who he has been meeting with for quite a while. And not only he is cheating on his current partner, journalist Valérie Trierweiler, but since the present First Lady was a concubine herself (when their love story begun, politician Ségolène Royal was Francois' lawful wife), well, that makes a pretty stunning performance, isn't it? 

Why nobody likes Silvio Berlusconi?

Thursday, December 13, 2012. French President François Hollande joins droves of politicians eager to state their disapproval over Silvio Berlusconi. Whatever he does or will do, nobody likes it.

Mr Holland, while speaking publicly in Brussels (see photo), declared he saw “very low chance“ for the “chevalier” (Berlusconi is a Labour's Knight, having been awarded the Order of Merit for Labour) of winning a term and replacing Mario Monti as head of Italian government.

"Now, look at you" seems to say François Hollande

"I don't take his words saying he abandoned his candidature seriously. What he says one day is not necessarily true the day after," Hollande added, clearly stating his stance towards the Italian media magnate “re-entering the field”. In this stance Hollande does not show any improvement in the relationship with Berlusconi, compared to Nicolas Sarkozy's days (watch the video on our YouTube's Berluschannel).

Silvio Berlusconi gets angry (and decides to get back to politics)

Saturday, October 27, 2012. Silvio Berlusconi does an about-turn: he will not leave politics, because he must reform the judiciary first. And he might end support for Monti's government as well. And he is still very angry at Merkel-Sarkozy, you know why...

An angry Silvio Berlusconi

The recent sentence by a Milan's tribunal in the Mediaset-trial – last Friday Silvio Berlusconi was condemned to four years in jail, diminished to only one year thank to a tax fraud official remission – irritated the former Italian prime minister to such an extent, that he burst out talking nonsense, as usual, using its powerful media machinery.

Silvio Berlusconi and the chat among friends

Sunday, October 23, 2011. After meeting Silvio Berlusconi on Italy's commitments, Germany's Merkel and France's Sarkozy are asked about how reassuring was the threesome.

Are they talking about him?

On October 15 Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi won a confidence vote by a very narrow majority.

On October 23, eight days later, he had to inspire some confidence in the Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, who summoned him (needing a true commitment from Italy, in order to try and solve the euro zone crisis), just before a European Council summit in Brussels.

Merkel, Sarkozy and Berlusconi

«I was convincing», declared afterwards Silvio Berlusconi «I have never failed to make the grade», showing how he considered the whole thing as just getting a reproach from the headmaster.

During the following press conference, a French-speaking journalist asked the duo about their level of trust in the Italian politician by putting a question on how much they have been reassured by him.

«How to put it?» answered Nicolas Sarkozy, «We do have confidence in the sense of responsibility of Italy's political, financial and economic authorities as a whole.» whilst Mrs Merkel underscores that «It was a meeting among friends.». They just couldn't help giggling, revealing how funny they found Silvio Berlusconi.

But the video (in French) about the funny scene is revealing more than the mere words.

For Silvio Berlusconi, exams never end.

Silvio Berlusconi, the European Central Bank and Thomas More

Tuesday, June 16 2011. Silvio Berlusconi's game to assure Mario Draghi post as governor of the ECB is not is not progressing as the Italian prime minister planned.

Sarkozy and Berlusconi

The rules of the game are easy. Mario Draghi – former governor of Banca d'Italia – goes to Frankfurt, and takes his place as governor of the European Central Bank, replacing the Frenchman Jean-Claude Trichet. Berlusconi managed to get Sarkozy's endorsement (even though he'd prefer a Frenchman in that post), but – in exchange – the Italian prime minister has to make sure that there be no more than one Italian in the board and France should maintain one, replacing Jean-Claude Trichet.

That means that incumbent European Central Bank Executive Board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi must go. Berlusconi had a 10-minute chat with Bini Smaghi, at Palazzo Chigi, the government’s headquarters in Rome, explaining him these very simple directions.

But Italian Silvio's mojo – as most of us already know – is not at his best, and Bini Smaghi has decided to dig in his heels. After the (one-way) discussion with the Italian prime minister, the board member went to the Vatican and “spoke of Thomas More” who “followed his conscience, even at the cost of displeasing the sovereign”. Saint Thomas More is the patron saint of central bankers.

Battling with Thomas More will be a tough task for the declining Silvio.

Berlusconi call puts Angela Merkel (and a Nato summit) on hold.

Saturday, 4 April 2009. Baden-Baden (Germany), along the Rhine river. The Italian politician-entrepreneur Berlusconi keeps hanging the Nato summit host Angela Merkel whilst talking on the phone.

President Berlusconi this time holds up the start of a NATO summit and keeps hanging the Chancellor of Germany, who's receiving the guests of the meeting. He gets off his car, Angela Merkel's looking forward to greet him and shake hands with him, but Silvio just can't hang the phone (as he explains, with clear gestures to the host of the meeting. Once again, funny stuff from Berlusconi).

Video from our YouTube Channel: Berluschannel

Nato leaders then cross the pedestrian bridge over the Rhine - with Merkel and Obama in front line - in order to meet France's President Sarkozy.

Believe it or not, Silvio is on the phone, whilst strolling around. And the puzzled Mrs Merkel has to start the event's opening ceremony without Italy's Berlusconi.

Over the telephone

In his defence, the Italian Prime Minister was talking to Mr Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (Turkey's Prime Minister) and the call was pertinent to the summit, but we can assume he could have found a way to manage it in a snappier way.

Couldn't he?