They promise the earth

The short man from Milan is back. His political campaign has begun (as always) on the football field with the return of the prodigal son Mario Balotelli to the Milanese fold (sponda rossonera). Berlusconi hit the headlines in Italy today with his promises of major tax cuts and institutional reforms. It should all sound familiar by now – in Italy it is the restitution of an alphabet soup of taxes from the IRAP to the IMU – and of course given the lack of popularity of politicians Silvio is also banking on promises such as halving the size of parliament and the removal of public financing of parties.

His opponents (and former allies) did not waste time in replying. There’s a huge familiarity in that too: Berlusconi promises much but never delivers is the most prominent of them all. Even Casini who had shacked up with Berlusconi for quite some time pointed an accusing finger at Berlusconi’s track record. The Cavaliere is knee dip in the populistic approach and don’t forget he is the man who reinvented political marketing in Italy. His is also an attack on the caretaker Monti government. Guess what? He claims that Monti betrayed the people and did not fulfil its duties of democratic representation.

Outspoken Nichi Vendola best described Berlusoni’s latest sortie: “Sembra Wanna Marchi” – comparing the ex-premier to a notorious fraudster who had built an empire selling rubbish on the tv. In Malta we had Mike Briguglio describing the local scene as “An electoral supermarket”… not too far off the Wanna Marchi mark.

Berlusconi built his empire starting off from the property business. In his case HE is the contractor. Will his promises be enough to win the trust of enough voters? Will the fish bite?

Wanna Marchi was condemned for 9 years and 4 months in prison – her biggest mistake was not becoming a politician. With the kind of talents that she had you never know how far she could have got.