Berlusconi blocks the sale of the newspaper. The torments of the party and the shadow of Meloni

Rome. She hasn’t sold it and the news is that she has no intention of selling it anymore. Silvio Berlusconi has stopped the sale of the newspaper to the Angelucci family. The turning point is confirmed by Forza Italia, the Knight’s party. Announced at the end of December, the sale of the newspaper was very advanced. The managers of the two groups have been analyzing the accounts of the newspaper founded by Indro Montanelli for weeks. Pushing for the conclusion of the deal are the managers of the Mondadori group and the Berlusconi family. To ask for a further reflection from Cav. it is the party convinced that the purchase of the Angeluccis is nothing more than “a gift, a dowry to be delivered to the premier, a sign of Berlusconi’s exit from politics”. The operation was called “Fox Meloni News” and provides for the construction, by the Angeluccis, of an editorial pole composed of Giornale, Libero and not excluding also the Truth.

The sale of the newspaper was considered finalized after the regional elections in Lombardy. Today an afterthought that pits the Berlusconi brothers against each other. The Cav. he would have picked up the phone and asked the management of the newspaper to interrupt the sale: “Il Giornale is mine”. It also belongs to his brother Paolo Berlusconi. The other Berlusconi wants the sale. Pier Silvio and Marina Berlusconi are also in favor of the sale. The father has an emotional bond with the newspaper and was injured by the attacks received in recent weeks. President Zelensky’s phrases have given strength to those in the party who remind him: “Mediaset networks don’t make opinions, newspapers do”. To corroborate this line of thought is the now almost fixed presence of the premier on Rete 4, a network that he has chosen for his interviews and which in FI they call “Meloni 4”. In order not to blow up the negotiation, both the managers of the Angelucci group and those of Il Giornale are thinking about a solution that in the publishing world is defined as “a farce and also disposable”. We are working on a 70/30 transfer. 70 percent to the Angeluccis and 30 percent to the Berlusconi family. The president of the new company could be his brother Paolo who would retain a role. It serves to demonstrate that Berlusconi has not slipped out of the newspaper. It is a solution that clashes with the need for sale.

If it is true that the newspaper is sold due to accumulated debts, it is nonsense to remain in a company with the same debts, also losing the possibility of establishing an editorial line. Those close to Berlusconi propose the opposite (30 per cent to the Angeluccis and 70 per cent to Berlusconi) and remember that there is another possible buyer. It’s Urbano Cairo, already available for purchase. It still would be. Since the announcement of the sale, given by the deputy editor of the Giornale Nicola Porro with a tweet: “Berlusconi has sold the Giornale”, it was December 31, 2022, almost two months have passed. Berlusconi has not (yet) sold it. He doesn’t want to sell it because he confides: “They’ll say I’m leaving politics. It’s false”. For years there has been talk of the sale and Berlusconi always changes his mind. He is the most libertine of the great Italians, but he can’t separate himself from his love of paper.

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• Carmelo Caruso

• Carmelo Caruso, journalist in Palermo, Milan, Rome. He started at La Repubblica. Today he works at the Foglio