Berlusconi has presided over a country in decline

Sir, Silvio Berlusconi is not only a threat to our country, but to Europe as a whole (“Baleful influence of Burlesque cronies”, Editorial, May 27). Italy is a declining and impermeable market, both professionally and industrially. Professionally because we export more skilled professionals and scientists than we import, more, I suspect, than any other country in Europe. Industrially because, as the recent case of Alitalia and the historical case of our banking sector demonstrate, fair competition is relatively unknown. Mani Pulite had, in the 1990s, the merit of bringing to light what everybody already knew: that corruption is endemic in our country, embedded in our economic and political dynamics and systemic at all levels of governance. Whether it is getting a job as an assistant professor at the university or opening a small commercial enterprise means facing the sad reality of illegality or corruption. Sometimes that corruption is moral, other times economic. Unfortunately Mani Pulite also brought Mr Berlusconi to power, who shifted the attention of citizens from the real to the fake monsters: judges, parliamentary opponents and non-aligned media. With the help of his communication empire, Mr Berlusconi converted the most serious problems of our nation into a sort of “cultural normality”. It is “normal” to help a young girl to realise her dreams of a career in show business; it is “normal” to shout at judges who have offended his integrity, it is “normal” to de-legitimise parliament; and it is “normal” to own significant shares in companies managed by his son, daughter and friends. The result is that Europe looks upon us as the sick country of the union, where the talented young flee the land of their birth, where nobody can raise their voice against the status quo without being accused of being psychologically unstable or a communist. Italy, in the hands of Mr Berlusconi, will become the real threat to Europe.

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