Berlusconi Shrugs Off Talk About Conflict Of Interest
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday May 8, 2001
Mr Silvio Berlusconi, mega-rich businessman and front-runner to become Italian prime minister next week, had some interesting dinner guests last Friday night.
Mr Berlusconi hosted a dinner party for Mr Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan, fuelling speculation that Mr Murdoch snr may solve one of Mr Berlusconi's biggest problems before the May 13 elections: what to do about his huge media interests.
Mr Berlusconi owns Italy's three main private TV networks, and his political opponents have run a damaging campaign warning about the power he would wield if he were to become prime minister, retaining control of the country's most influential private media networks and gaining control of the three state-owned networks as well.
Mr Berlusconi has promised to make an announcement on the future of the TV networks before the election, prompting speculation that he may sell them. Mr Murdoch, who has long searched for a big foothold in the European media, has been seen as a potential buyer.
Questioned after the dinner, however, Mr Murdoch poured cold water on the idea, pointing out a formidable legal obstacle: ``I can't buy them because I'm not an Italian citizen."
He said he and Mr Berlusconi had spoken ``only of politics".
The question of what Mr Murdoch and Mr Berlusconi discussed over dinner was partly answered on Sunday when Mr Murdoch's The Sunday Times in London published an interview with Mr Berlusconi in which he announced he would appoint a panel of experts one British, one American and one German to propose a solution to the conflict of interest.
As well as the networks, Mr Berlusconi owns Italy's leading publishing group and has financial interests in banks, insurance and real estate.
In the interview he pledged that within 100 days of taking office he would present a law on conflicts of interest.
The move was vintage Berlusconi. He talked about putting his assets in a blind trust, and he says he will announce two days before the elections plans for his wealth, should he win.
Whether he will win, however, seems less clear than a few weeks ago, with Mr Berlusconi's huge lead in the opinion polls narrowing sharply.
His opponent, a former Rome mayor, Mr Francesco Rutelli, has shrugged off the meeting with Mr Murdoch.
Mr Berlusconi's slump in the polls has been accompanied by growing concerns about his fitness for the job, concerns fed by his own campaign errors.
After complaining about journalists' questions about his group's offshore companies, he blithely told a group of businessmen that they enabled him to evade taxes.
And he caused anger at the weekend when, in trying to attack the former leftist prime minister Mr Massimo D'Alema, he caught his own ally, Mr Francesco Cossiga, who was president of Italy from 1985-92, in the crossfire.
Mr Berlusconi charged that Mr D'Alema had become prime minister in 1998 by offering posts to those who sponsored him. Apparently he did not recall that a main sponsor of Mr D'Alema was Mr Cossiga, who later became one of his own supporters.
Offended by the implication that he had accepted a bribe, Mr Cossiga immediately announced he was withdrawing from the election campaign.
It was the sort of gaffe that is inflicting enormous damage on the Centre-Right at the end of a heated election campaign.
© 2001 Sydney Morning Herald
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