Silvio Berlusconi and the necessity of bribery

Thursday, February 14, 2013 (Valentine's Day). Silvio Berlusconi commented the recent corruption scandals inItaly slamming as "moralising" and stating that bribes are just a "necessary part of the business".

If you have been wondering why Italy is the last Western European country in the corruption ranking (according to the non-governmental organization Transparency International), well Silvio Berlusconi has answer to that, by declaring that bribery is not a crime, but just a “commission” to be paid (by the way, Silvio has been condemned for fraud in the past...), as he was interviewed on Rai3 television programme “Agorà”.

How to bewitch people on the radio?

«Stop moralising» said the former Italian prime minister, «one cannot be an entrepreneur on a global scale without bribes». Berlusconi himself has been accused of bribery, for instance in the Mills case.

Once again, the former Italian prime minister tried to please some of his potential voters, by saying something with his foot in the mouth (“if anything, the media will talk about me”, he thinks, and he is rarely wrong, and quite ubiquitously present on almost any Italian headlines), in a moment when – due to the recent scandals involving Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica and Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the oldest bank in the world – some observers (and prime minister Mario Monti) reckon Italy is in a worse situation than during the Mani Pulite era, in the beginning of the 90s.

Sweethearts on Valentine's Day

So Transparency International became a bit  wary the the concept perhaps wasn't so clear   and decided to publish a reminder to Italy (not only to Mr Berlusconi) that bribery is against the law, just in case.

Most probably the guy that provoke the statement didn't even realised it, when finished creating his usual share of turmoil, Silvio relaxed and went out for dinner with his girlfriend and would-be First Lady Francesca Pascale. Jokes (as usual) and prayers were served by the former premier.

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