Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, head of the opposition Forza Italia, has called on Lega leader Matteo Salvini to break the government with the Five-Star Movement. Italy threatens a dictatorship, warned Berlusconi according to the media.
„I feel a climate of lack of freedom, we are in a non-liberal democracy, a precursor of the dictatorship,“ Berlusconi warned of followers of his Forza Italia in Rome. After rescuing Italy from a left-wing victory in 1994, he said he was still politically active to promote Italy’s democracy, said the 82-year-old Milanese.
Relevance of political online communication underestimated
Berlusconi said he was deeply disappointed with his party’s election result in the March general election. He had counted with 24 percent of the vote, it came the Forza Italia to only 14 percent. He underestimated the relevance of political communication via the Internet, the TV entrepreneur admitted. „I am a human being born three generations ago, Internet is not my world,“ said Berlusconi.
Berlusconi called on the young supporters of his party to use the Internet for the election campaign in favor of Forza Italia in view of the EU election next May.
Salvini rejects criticism
Lega boss and Interior Minister Salvini criticized Berlusconi’s words. In Italy there is no danger of dictatorship. He described Berlusconi’s statements as „nonsense“ that could come from the mouths of „Brussels bureaucrats“ or „frustrated left-wing politicians.“
Italy’s ex-prime minister Paolo Gentiloni also warned of the danger of populism for Italian democracy. „Berlusconi is right about his concern for Italy,“ said Gentiloni in a TV interview last night.
