FOR YEARS now, critics of Silvio Berlusconi have been tempted to draw comparisons between him and fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. In Paris on Thursday night, the Italian prime minister did it himself.
During his address to an OECD gathering, Mr Berlusconi quoted Il Duce’s views on power.
“As prime minister,” he said, “I’ve never had the sensation of being in power, of having power. Perhaps I had it when I was a businessman in charge of a corporation which employed 56,000 people, but now I have no power. He who is the head of government in reality has absolutely no power . . .
“I might dare to quote the words of a man who was considered to be a great and powerful dictator, Benito Mussolini. ‘They say that I have a lot of power but it’s not true. Maybe the mandarins have it, I don’t know. I only know that I can tell my horse to go left or go right and I’ve got to settle for that’.”
Needless to say, Mr Berlusconi’s words – later referred to by his staff as a “mere joke” – did not pass unnoticed as his political opponents argued it was time that Italy began to think of saving itself “from the all-powerful personified”.
Writer and historian Nicola Caracciola said: “Mussolini represented power, concentrated in one man alone. At all key moments, such as the alliance with Hitler, he imposed his will.
“He dragged Italy into a world war against the will of his entire establishment. His was an omnipotence best documented by Fascist slogans such as ‘Il Duce Is Always Right’ or ‘Believe, Obey, Fight’.”
Opposition politicians, inevitably, were even more outraged. Alessandro Pignatiello of the Italian Communists argued that the “Berlusconi-Mussolini” comparison was “spot on”, calling on Italians to save themselves from his omnipotence.
Nicola Tranfaglia of the Italy of Values party said the prime minister’s words were proof that he “wants to escape the law and govern with dictatorial powers”.
Senior Democratic Party figure Rosi Bindi was less alarmist but perhaps more sarcastic, commenting: “Well, if he’s got no power, what exactly does he think he is doing in government house?”