Berlusconi returns to the Senate 9 years later

He had been disqualified for tax fraud, today he returns after having won in a single-member school in MonzaThe Italian legislature starts with the first appointment with the Chambers to elect the presidentsMeanwhile the center-right coalition continues its negotiations for the second step: the formation of the Council of MinistersThe morning wakes up rainy, chaotic in Rome. Today the new legislature begins after the elections on September 25 and today, in addition to electing the presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, Silvio Berlusconi returns to occupy a seat in the Italian Parliament. Nine years have passed since he was disqualified in 2013 due to his conviction for tax fraud, a sentence that prevented him from holding any direct political position until he was elected to the European Parliament in 2019. But he had never left, his character continues to have a great symbolic weight and it will be even more so with the victory of the center right in the country. In these elections Fuerza Italia suffered the transfer of votes to Brothers of Italy, both the party of the former cavalliere and that of Matteo Salvini, the League, remained at 9% and 8% respectively, but the great “rivincita” was his lap. After two decades as the quintessential political figure in Italy, now at 86 he sits back in the hemicycle and all the cameras focus on him. He is slightly late. In the corridors, everyone tries his luck at the different elevator exits to see if they can run into Berlusconi for a few seconds, guess how he is. His health status is unknown to many. In one of them he finally appears and meets -by chance- Guido Grosseto, an important exponent of the Brothers of Italy, greets him and they hug. Two words counted, the night has not been easy in the negotiations with the strong Meloni and the abstention in the first vote Fuerza Italia shows that, although there seems to be an agreement on the person to preside over the Senate, it will not be an early victory. The typical tensions of a negotiation like this, in which the portfolios of the new Council of Ministers are also underway, which will be elected in days, become relevant on this October 13. When Berlusconi finally enters the Senate, the session has already begun. Liliana Segre gives her speech, she is the senator for life in charge today of temporarily presiding over the Chamber of Palazzo Madama, she focuses her words on the values ​​that unify democracy, on the anti-fascist icons of the Republic. Segre was a victim of the holocaust and her relevance in Italy is indisputable. It may be that after this day the baton will pass to the name that sounds the most for the presidency of the Senate, Ignazio la Russa, close friend of Giorgia Meloni and heavyweight of the Brothers of Italy, who may embody the second most important position in the State. La Russa especially singled out, beyond his post-fascist political origins shared with the future premier, for the recent viralized episodes in which his brother, Romano Larussa, was seen making the fascist salute at a funeral. A Holocaust survivor, Liliana Segre, a life-long Senator, will have to see Ignazio Benito La Russa, a lieutenant of Giorgia Meloni, and an unrepentant nostalgic of Fascism (his house is full of Mussolini busts, just saying) become the President of the Italian Senate today.— Angelo Boccato (@Ang_Bok) October 13, 2022 Berlusconi has difficulty walking, age does not help but the exchange in the hemicycle with opponents and political friends remains intact, as in his best times, comments an expert Italian journalist in Parliament. In the first recess of the Senate politicians of all colors attend to greet him: Matteo Renzi, Matteo Salvini, the newly elected Brothers of Italy. A parliamentarian even takes a selfie. When the former cavalliere realizes the relevance of the situation he climbs one more step and takes a “high” seat, when he approaches to cast his vote, they applaud him. Around him the conversations of the day. In the offices, the teams of the entire center-right rush the agreements, simultaneously with the vote and that will tilt the result at the end of the morning that seems, here at least in the Senate, already closed, although not yet guaranteed in the Chamber of Deputies where they vote simultaneously and the final decision could take until tomorrow, Friday. How is Berlusconi doing? In 2016, he underwent a major heart operation and in 2020 he contracted COVID-19 and had to be hospitalized due to its severity. For the last year he has been in and out of the hospital suffering from various ailments, now he walks with difficulty. Close sources confess that he still carries the difficulties of a fall that has never been public. Among his most faithful party associates, almost his squires, they help him walk and sit on the bench at the various entrances and exits of the hemicycle during the day. He does not give up a historic day for him, but his public appearances have been few in recent months, he carefully takes care of his health and knows, despite the fact that he jokes with his usual humor, his physical limitations.