Silvio Berlusconi’s last speech in the Senate

“Mr President of the Senate, honorable senators, Mr President of the Council, I am happy to be here and I must tell you that I am also happy because three hours ago I had my seventeenth grandchild. Hurray. In any case, it is a source of satisfaction for me to speak again in the Senate after nine years and to do so just when the Italian people have once again chosen to entrust the government of the country to the centre-right coalition”.

On October 26, 2022, the day of trust in the Meloni government, Silvio Berlusconi returns to Parliament, to the Senate, nine years after the last time. He takes the floor to applause, flanked by the faithful Maurizio Gasparri and Licia Ronzulli. He claims the idea, the intuition with which “twenty-eight years ago a plural coalition was born, in which the right and the center together were able to express a democratic project of government for our country”. Then he assures loyalty to the executive led by Giorgia Meloni, before reiterating his idea of ​​freedom and loyalty to the West.

In 1994, concludes the Cav., “I spoke of the possibility of building a more just, more generous and more solicitous Italy towards those in need and towards those who suffer. I spoke of a more modern and more efficient Italy; of a more prosperous and more serene, more orderly and safer. These are my words then, these are my words today”. Words that will be followed by the standing ovation of fellow senators and applause from the benches of government.

The full speech

Mr President, today I will not show off my eloquence, because I have many, many things to say and therefore I have dutifully written everything down. Mr President of the Senate, honorable senators, Mr President of the Council, I am happy to be here and I must tell you that I am also happy because three hours ago I had my seventeenth grandchild. Hurray. In any case, it is a source of satisfaction for me to speak again in the Senate after nine years and to do so precisely when the Italian people have once again chosen to entrust the government of the country to the centre-right coalition. It is a coalition that I created twenty-eight years ago and which, since then, has written fundamental pages in the history of the Republic; it has achieved a complete democracy, a democracy of the European type based on the alternation between two parties legitimized by the vote of the Italians. If today for the first time in the government of the country, by decision of the voters, there is an exponent who comes from the history of the Italian right, this was made possible because twenty-eight years ago a plural coalition was born, in which the right and the center together have been able to express a democratic government project for our country.

Twenty-eight years ago a coalition was born which has never split, which has been able to govern together and has also been able to stand together with the opposition. A coalition that has governed and is still governing in the majority of Italian regions; a coalition that has always been the architect of great choices of democracy and freedom.

This is not the time, honorable senators, to recall all the successes achieved by centre-right governments, but I want to proudly claim one thing: our governments have always had the north star of freedom as the guiding star of their actions.

We have never approved a rule, a law, a provision, which could reduce the spaces of freedom of citizens. We have never made a choice in international politics that was not on the side of the West, on the side of freedom. I am absolutely sure that the new government will follow this same path, with these same principles. Therefore, today we will vote for confidence with conviction. We will vote for trust with conviction and, starting tomorrow, we will work loyally, with passion, with a constructive spirit to implement our programme.

Yesterday and today we heard from President Meloni definitive and totally shareable words on rights, freedoms, the need to lower taxes, the need to promote fiscal peace; a commitment to deal with major emergencies immediately, starting with the need to reduce energy costs for households and businesses; a commitment to resume an energy policy no longer conditioned by the no party and the ideological environmentalism of the left.

We are well aware of the difficulties ahead of us; just as we are aware of the expectations of Italians and of the responsibilities we have towards them. Businesses and families are in difficulty and are asking for help. We cannot leave them unanswered. But above all we have the duty to move forward, because we are faced with new emergencies, which are a cause of serious social alarm.

After all, we are very aware of the structural problems of our country. The awareness of the slowness of the bureaucracy and the inefficiency of the judicial system; awareness of the unsustainable tax burden on households and businesses. Certainly, one of the priorities, to be approved as soon as possible, is the reform of taxation for a fairer and lighter tax system, despite the need not to disregard the budget constraints that Europe and the markets impose on us.

Justice reform is also an essential priority, not just for a question of reasonable length of trials. I remind you that the processes for a first instance sentence here last one thousand one hundred and twenty days. In Europe, apart from Holland, where they last ninety-eight days, they last a year at most. Well, this is important: we have to get back into this year. For this reason, the hearings must not be fixed, as is the case today, after three months or after four months. You have to fix them the following week or, at the latest, after two weeks.

We have to do it as a matter of civilization and freedom. We have to make a truly guaranteed reform, not against the judiciary, but for the law, for equity, for freedom.

In our decisions we must then put the person at the center of everything, the bearer by nature of rights that are not granted by the state, but which the state has a duty to guarantee and protect. We are therefore for the protection of life from conception to natural death, we are for the support of the birth rate, we are for the defense and enhancement of the family and its social function, which is indispensable. These are all issues on which our Government, I am sure, will be able to intervene appropriately with courage and a sense of responsibility.

Honorable senators, the new government takes office at a particularly difficult time not only for Italy, but for the whole world. The moment – I say – the most difficult and most dangerous since the end of the Cold War to today. Faced with the current international situation, we can only reiterate and consolidate the cornerstones of our foreign policy, that is, our solidarity with the West, that solidarity which has always characterized our governments and which must be the common heritage of the nation, above all of in the face of international threats, old and new. I – you know – have always been a man of peace; my governments have always worked for peace and always in full agreement with the government leaders of Europe, NATO and the United States (as I was able to solemnly recall before the American Congress).

In 2002, following a long and passionate diplomatic work, I managed to convince President Bush, President Putin and the heads of NATO countries to sign the Pratica di Mare Treaty, the agreement which ended, after more than fifty years, to the Cold War, an agreement that was considered by all as a real miracle. My project, shared by many, was then to recover Russia for Europe. We planned this, in order to be able to face together, with a West strengthened by Russia’s contribution, the great systemic challenge of the 21st century, that of impending Chinese expansionism. Unfortunately, the invasion of Ukraine thwarted this plan of ours, because we are back before 2002, with Russia isolated from Europe and with Europe and the West united against Russia. In this situation we naturally can only be with the West, in defending the rights of a free and democratic country like Ukraine. For all this we must work for peace; we will do this in full agreement with our Western allies and respecting the will of the Ukrainian people. Our position on this is firm and convinced; it is absolutely clear and cannot be doubted by anyone, for any reason.

Madam Prime Minister, Forza Italia will work alongside you with commitment and loyalty, to implement the program in which we have had the trust of the Italians.

We will do it as liberals, as Christians, as guarantors; we will do it as pro-Europeans and as Atlanticists.

In 1994, in this same Chamber, asking the Senate for confidence in the first centre-right government, I concluded my speech by speaking of the possibility of daydreaming of a better future for our country.

I spoke of the possibility of building a more just, more generous and more solicitous Italy towards those in need and towards those who suffer. I spoke of a more modern and more efficient Italy; of a more prosperous and more serene, more orderly and safer Italy. These are my words then, these are my words today.

To the Prime Minister and to the Government, my and our most convinced and affectionate wishes for all the next five years of work. Thank you.