There was no doubt that Sergio Marchionne would drop the offer Silvio Berlusconi made to him, as he also did to Carlo Calenda and Mario Draghi, to take over the leadership of the centre-right ahead of the 2018 national general election. CEO of FCA did it very explicitly and categorically.
“Me political leader? Berlusconi is great but I don't even think about it at night” declared the CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, concluding any discussion on the matter. Minister Calenda did the same, saying he did not know Berlusconi personally. As for Draghi, his mandate at the helm of the ECB will only expire in two years and his return to Italy to get into politics is out of reality.
However Berlusconi, by launching three authoritative external candidacies for the leadership of the centre-right, wanted to make two things clear: 1) that he has no faith in the leadership of any of the current internal centre-right candidates; 2) that, despite being legally out of the game due to the convictions suffered in court, he will continue to be the real director and the real boss of the centre-right.
