The Businessman Prime Minister

You sound more prudent than in the past. Now, after you say something, you always add, "if we have the resources."
I'm much more prudent now because the situation is as it is. I'm a realist.

Some analysts see an end to so-called anti-Berlusconism, the radicals opposed to your presence in politics.
The left has simply learned it was a boomerang to use these approaches. I believe Italians know me for what I am, for what I've done. After five years of Berlusconi government they know they cannot think of someone more liberal than me. Watching the TV channels and reading the newspapers that are still owned by my family, they know there's never an attack against the left. They see I'm the most liberal publisher. I believe the radicals' attacks created a repulsion; the left understood it was not convenient anymore to continue.

How do you find Walter Veltroni as a rival?
He's a great talker, but the performance he's staging is over. Italians have realized that in Italy there are two lefts—that the left means 67 more taxes, increased taxes, open borders with a drop in security, the tragedy of garbage in Italy and the stopping of public works. These are the facts of the left. Then there are nice words and promises, and that's the left of Veltroni.

Once, you said, "I agree with the United States even before it speaks out." Would something change with a Democrat in the White House?
No, I don't think so. Relations between us and America are those of an ally that has a clear foreign policy, is loyal, and that never forgets that it saved us from Nazism and communism. I don't think that the U.S. foreign policy will change with a Democrat or a Republican. I had a very good relationship with President Clinton and President Bush, and for sure I'll have a very good relationship with the next U.S. president.

© 2008