Berlusconi spruces up his image
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Berlusconi pictured before his apparent facelift (top), and after (bottom).
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Berlusconi stages a razzmatazz comeback rally.
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ROME, Italy (Reuters) -- Rejuvenated by an apparent facelift, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi staged a razzmatazz rally on Saturday to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his entry into politics.
Hundreds of flag-waving members of his Forza Italia (Go Italy) party poured into a fascist-era suburb of Rome to cheer on Berlusconi, who has redefined the political landscape over the past decade but has struggled to reshape the economy.
"I'm here, I'm here," a pumped-up Berlusconi said as he walked into the rally hall, his party anthem drowning out the chants of "Silvio, Silvio" from some 1,500 supporters.
In his speech, a sun-tanned Berlusconi railed against his pet hates -- communists and magistrates -- and promised that he would reform the justice and economic systems.
"We find ourselves in front of a real Berlin Wall that is dividing us from the free Italy that we have in mind, but gradually our ideas are creating cracks," he said.
The anniversary has coincided with a crucial moment for Berlusconi's centre-right coalition, which has fallen prey to in-fighting and is in dire need of fresh impetus.
The media-mogul-turned-politician vanished from public view for more than a month over the Christmas holidays.
He burst back into the limelight on Thursday vowing to resolve his coalition woes and restore faith among investors following the recent meltdown of Italian food giant Parmalat.
He also indicated that he wanted to boost the profile of Forza Italia, which is the biggest force in parliament but has so far failed to emerge from Berlusconi's shadow.
"In 10 years, Forza Italia has remained an unformed embryo: never a congress or political debate worthy of the name, never an idea, never anything," respected newspaper Corriere della Sera said in a damning comment on its front page on Friday.
Berlusconi shot into politics at the height of corruption scandals that swept away an entire political class, offering a "you can be rich like me" message that Italians bought as readily as the goods advertised on his television channels.
"Silvio is my idol," said 23-year-old Giovanni Coccia on Saturday. "He's a businessman who is working for the good of the country. Sadly, there are very few men like him in Italy."
Forza Italia, named after a soccer chant and created from the top down, was a marketing man's dream in a country where voters had tired of the old brand of corrupt politics.
Within two months, Berlusconi had stormed to victory in general elections, but his coalition collapsed at the end of 1994 and he did not return to high office until 2001.
This time around, his coalition has proved more durable but a recent bout of feuding has revived bitter memories of 1994 and put a brake on campaign promises to overhaul Italy's rigid political and economic framework.
A poll released on Thursday said two out of three Italians thought the government's economic policies had failed, with the cost of living surging and recent financial scandals burning up billions of euros of small investor savings.
After coming through his apparent facelift, Berlusconi now hopes he can spruce up the image of both his government and Forza Italia ahead of European Parliament elections in June.
Copyright 2004
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
