On the day dedicated to the remembrance of the Holocaust, Silvio Berlusconi chooses to re-evaluate Benito Mussolini. The argument supporting the historical analysis is not that of the "trains" that "arrived on time", but another great classic of nostalgic apology: "Making the racial laws was the worst fault of a leader, Mussolini, who had done well in many other ways“. This is Cavaliere's opinion on the fascist dictator. But that's not enough. Even on the racial laws, the leader of the PDL shows understanding towards the Duce, arguing that "it is difficult to put yourself in the shoes of those who decided then", when "Italy preferred to be an ally of Hitler's Germany rather than oppose it".
Impromptu gaffe or calculated political move? Of the two options, the second is more likely. Berlusconi's intention was probably to wink at those of his (moderate?) allies who still regret castor oil: above all Francesco Storace, leader of La Destra and candidate for the Lazio regional elections (with the support of the PDL), but also a series of former extremists who have never made a secret of their ideological origins, such as Daniela Santanchè o Maurizio Gasparri. Not to mention the "Casa Pound" style electorate, who will certainly have appreciated the rehabilitation of the late despot.
Certainly Berlusconi knew very well that such courtesy towards Mussolini would have caused an uproar. And so, as was largely predictable, a chorus of indignation rises from the center and the left, while a clear condemnation of the revisionism made in Arcore comes from the Union of Italian Jewish Communities.
The Pd group leader in the Chamber, Dario Franceschini, defines the Knight's words as "a shame", while for the leader of Sel, Nichi Vendola, the number one of the PDL is a "forger of the present and the past". The centrist is less violent Pier Ferdinando Casini, who speaks of "enormous nonsense", while the president of the UDC Rocco Buttiglione he wonders if Mussolini is "Berlusconi's model of moderation". Second Mario Monti, however, "Berlusconi's joke, if it was a joke, was really very, very unfortunate for the place and the circumstances in which it arrived".
“The statements made by Silvio Berlusconi appear not only superficial and inappropriate – he comments Renzo Gattegna, president of the Union of Italian Jewish communities - , but, where they suggest that Italy has decided to persecute and exterminate its own Jews to please a powerful ally, also lacking in moral sense and historical foundation".
Words that force the Knight to reverse gear: "There can be no misunderstanding about the fascist dictatorship - Berlusconi specified in the evening -, even if I thought this data was clear for all my past and present political history".
Meanwhile, the center-right is starting a counterattack. For Robert Formigoni the Knight's words must be "contextualized", while Fabrizio Cicchitto he rails against an alleged "forcing" of the left, to then produce a grotesque hit parade of dictatorships: "The fascist dictatorship never reached the horror of the Nazi one, which produced the extermination camps, and the communist one of Stalin" . Word of a former socialist.
