138-467: Fortuyn can refer to: Pim Fortuyn (1948–2002), Dutch politician Fortuyn , a Dutch sailing ship under Hendrick Christiaensen that explored New Netherland in the 1610s Fortuyn , a Dutch sailing ship under Jan Jacobsz Vrijer that was sent on a whaling expedition to Svalbard with Muyden 's Neptunus in 1613 Fortuyn (1722) , a Dutch sailing ship that sank on its maiden voyage in 1724 after leaving
276-572: A parish priest from The Hague , accompanying him in some of his last TV appearances. According to The New York Times , Berger had become his "friend and confessor " during the last weeks of his life. Fortuyn was initially buried in Driehuis in the Netherlands. He was re-interred on 20 July 2002, at San Giorgio della Richinvelda , in the province of Pordenone in Italy, where he had owned
414-462: A Milan court ordered Fininvest to pay 560 million euros in damages to Compagnie Industriali Riunite in a long-running legal dispute. On 5 August 2016, Fininvest announced the signing of a preliminary agreement to sell all of their shares of AC Milan to Sino-Europe Sports Investment Management Changxing Co.Ltd. The deal was scheduled to be finalised by the end of 2016. On 13 April 2017, Berlusconi sold Milan to Rossoneri Sport Investment Lux for
552-627: A consultant for, or even creating his own list . Livable Netherlands founder Jan Nagel subsequently invited him to run as party leader and Fortuyn was elected " lijsttrekker " ( lead candidate ) by a large majority of party members at the LN conference on 26 November 2001, prior to the Dutch general election of 2002 . In his leadership bid and general election campaign, Fortuyn attacked the mainstream parties on multiculturalism, immigration and law & order. He also called for less government interference and for
690-506: A controversial figure who divided public opinion and political analysts. Supporters emphasised his leadership skills and charismatic power, his fiscal policy based on tax reduction, and his ability to maintain strong and close foreign relations with both the United States and Russia. In general, critics address his performance as a politician and the ethics of his government practices in relation to his business holdings. Issues with
828-659: A cruise ship crooner . In later life, he wrote AC Milan 's anthem with the Italian music producer and pop singer Tony Renis and Forza Italia's anthem with the opera director Renato Serio . With the Neapolitan singer Mariano Apicella, he wrote two Neapolitan song albums: Meglio 'na canzone in 2003 and L'ultimo amore in 2006. In 1965, Berlusconi married Carla Elvira Dall'Oglio, and they had two children: Maria Elvira , better known as Marina (born 1966), and Pier Silvio (born 1969). By 1980, Berlusconi had established
966-426: A familiar public figure for his charismatic and flamboyant speaking style. In 1994 he began hosting his own radio program on RTV Rijnmond and often appeared on the political debate show Buitenhof and later as a commentator on the business current affairs program Business Class on RTL Nederland . Fortuyn was openly gay, and said in a 2002 interview that he was Catholic. Fortuyn began his political career on
1104-557: A house. When asked about his opposition to Muslim immigration, Fortuyn explained that, "I have no desire to go through the emancipation of women and homosexuals all over again." In August 2001, Fortuyn was quoted in the Rotterdams Dagblad newspaper saying, "I am also in favour of a cold war with Islam. I see Islam as an extraordinary threat, as a hostile religion." In the TV program Business class , Fortuyn said that Muslims in
1242-536: A large group of illegal immigrants. He said that he did not intend to "unload our Moroccan hooligans" onto the Moroccan King Hassan . Hassan had died three years earlier. He considered Article 7 of the constitution, which asserts freedom of speech , of more importance than Article 1, which forbids discrimination on the basis of religion, life principles, political inclination, race, or sexual preference. Fortuyn distanced himself from Hans Janmaat of
1380-408: A law that previously restricted nationwide broadcasting to RAI, which had ordered these private networks to cease transmitting. After political turmoil in 1985, the decree was approved definitively; for some years, Berlusconi's three channels remained in legal limbo and were not allowed to broadcast news and political commentary. They were elevated to the status of full national TV channels in 1990 by
1518-490: A leader because of his turbulent private life. Berlusconi was born in 1936 in Milan , where he was raised in a middle-class family. His father, Luigi Berlusconi, was a bank employee, and his mother, Rosa Bossi, a housewife. He was the first of three children; he had a sister, Maria Francesca Antonietta, and a brother, Paolo . After completing his secondary school education at a Salesian college, Berlusconi studied law at
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#17327727860331656-468: A little over a month until his replacement by a technocratic government headed by Lamberto Dini . Dini had been a key minister in the Berlusconi cabinet, and Berlusconi said the only way he would support a technocratic government would be if Dini headed it. In the end, Dini was supported by most of the opposition parties, but not by Forza Italia and Lega Nord. In 1996, Berlusconi and his coalition lost
1794-555: A major demonstration of the centre-right in Rome against the Prodi II Cabinet , Berlusconi proposed the foundation of a Freedom Party, arguing that the people and voters of the different political movements aligned to the demonstration were all part of a people of freedom. On 18 November 2007, after claiming the collection of more than 7 million signatures (including that of Umberto Bossi ) demanding that then President of
1932-404: A margin of 9% of the vote: 46.5% (344 seats) to 37.5% (246 seats). Berlusconi capitalised on discontent over the nation's stagnating economy and the unpopularity of Prodi's government. His declared top priorities were to remove piles of rubbish from the streets of Naples and to improve the state of the Italian economy, which had under-performed the rest of the eurozone for years. He also said he
2070-666: A member of the Chamber of Deputies, the country's lower house , he became a member of the Senate following the 2013 Italian general election . On 1 August 2013, Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud by the Supreme Court of Cassation . His four-year prison sentence was confirmed, and he was banned from holding public office for two years. Aged 76, he was exempted from direct imprisonment, and instead served his sentence by doing unpaid community service . Three years of his sentence
2208-558: A moral leadership, explicitly promoting and defending the new values of modern Western society, constantly recreating the Dutch identity. Fortuyn consistently retained a liberal stance on matters such as LGBT rights throughout his political career. Adopting the philosophical analysis by Carl Schmitt , it was assumed that such an identity could only be defined in antithesis to some actually existing concrete enemy. Inspired by Samuel Huntington 's The Clash of Civilizations , Dutch ethnicity
2346-405: A one-time amnesty for those asylum seekers who had resided in the Netherlands for an extended period. In 2004, in a TV show, Fortuyn was chosen as De Grootste Nederlander ("Greatest Dutchman of all-time"), followed closely by William of Orange , the leader of the independence war that established the precursor to the present-day Netherlands. The election was not considered representative, as it
2484-644: A professor at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam before branching into a business career and was an advisor to the Dutch government on social infrastructure. He then became prominent in the Netherlands as a press columnist, writer and media commentator. Initially a Marxist who was sympathetic to the Communist Party of the Netherlands , and later a member of the Dutch Labour Party in the 1970s, Fortuyn's beliefs began to shift to
2622-683: A progressive new class would have promoted multiculturalism, founding an anti-racist civil religion on article 1 of the Dutch constitution, forbidding discrimination. Whereas in the early 1990s Fortuyn had held liberal views on immigration, this changed under the influence of Schoo. Dutch neocons understood that in the evermore secularising Netherlands a change on the lines of the Reagan Revolution had become highly improbable. Women's rights, gay rights, abortion and euthanasia had been generally accepted. In his 1995 book De verweesde samenleving ("The orphaned society"), Fortuyn claimed that
2760-579: A reform of the Dutch public health and education systems. He concluded his acceptance speech by saying the words in English that would become his slogan; "At your service!" Support for LN rose dramatically during Fortuyn's brief leadership, climbing from 2% in opinion polls to about 17%. On 9 February 2002, Fortuyn gave an interview to Volkskrant , a Dutch newspaper (see below) regarding his beliefs on immigration and Islam. His statements were considered so controversial that LN dismissed him as lijsttrekker
2898-436: A relationship with the actress Veronica Lario (born Miriam Bartolini), with whom he subsequently had three children: Barbara (born 1984), Eleonora (born 1986), and Luigi (born 1988). He was divorced from Dall'Oglio in 1985, and married Lario in 1990. By this time, Berlusconi was a well-known entrepreneur, and his wedding was a notable social event. One of his best men was Bettino Craxi , a former prime minister and leader of
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#17327727860333036-441: A right-wing extremist), have objected to what they think is a harsher political and social climate, especially towards immigrants and Muslims. However, other commentators such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali , David Starkey and Douglas Murray have retrospectively defended some of Fortuyn's beliefs. Former Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende also stated that he later agreed with some of Fortuyn's criticisms of multiculturalism and
3174-474: A social democrat, and Democratic U.S. president John F. Kennedy . Fortuyn also criticised the polder model and the policies of the outgoing government of Wim Kok and repeatedly described himself and LPF 's ideology as pragmatic and not populistic . In March 2002, his newly created LPF became the largest party in Fortuyn's hometown Rotterdam during the Dutch municipal elections held that year. Fortuyn
3312-623: A total of €830 million after a 31-year reign. Berlusconi rapidly rose to the forefront of Italian politics in January 1994, forming a new party called Forza Italia . He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the first time and appointed as prime minister following the 1994 Italian general election , when Forza Italia gained a majority in the Chamber of Deputies less than three months after having been launched. His cabinet collapsed after nine months due to internal disagreements among
3450-479: A vote nonetheless won by Berlusconi by 314 to 311. In May 2011, PdL suffered a big blow in local elections. Particularly painful was the loss of Milan , Berlusconi's hometown and party stronghold. In response to this and to conflicts within party ranks, Angelino Alfano , the Justice minister, was chosen as national secretary in charge of reorganising and renewing the party. The appointment of 40-year-old Alfano,
3588-409: A year would not be taxed). Secondly, he promised to halve the unemployment rate. Thirdly, he committed to financing and developing a massive new public works programme. Fourthly, he promised to raise the minimum monthly pension rate to 516 euros. Fifthly, he would reduce crime by introducing police officers to patrol all local zones and areas in Italy's major cities. Opposition parties claim Berlusconi
3726-449: A year. The conflict between Fini and Berlusconi was covered live on television. At the end of the day, a resolution proposed by Berlusconi's loyalists was put before the assembly and approved by a landslide margin. On 29 July 2010, the party executive released a document in which Fini was described as "incompatible" with the political line of the PdL and unable to perform his job of President of
3864-437: Is awarded to opinion makers, politicians or commentators who best convey the ideas of Pim Fortuyn. Winners have included Ebru Umar and John van den Heuvel . Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( / ˌ b ɛər l ʊ ˈ s k oʊ n i / BAIR -luu- SKOH -nee , Italian: [ˈsilvjo berluˈskoːni] ; 29 September 1936 – 12 June 2023) was an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as
4002-446: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Pim Fortuyn Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn , known as Pim Fortuyn ( Dutch: [ˈpɪɱ fɔrˈtœyn] ; 19 February 1948 – 6 May 2002), was a Dutch politician, author, civil servant, businessman, sociologist and academic who founded the party Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn or LPF) in 2002. Fortuyn worked as
4140-400: Is necessary to amend the Italian constitution without a qualified two-thirds parliamentary majority. The referendum was held on 25–26 June 2006 and resulted in the rejection of the constitutional reform, with 61.3% of voters casting ballots against it. Operating under a new electoral law written unilaterally by the governing parties with strong criticism from the parliamentary opposition ,
4278-456: Is often called Fortuynism . Observers variously saw him as a political protest targeting the alleged elitism and bureaucratic style of the Dutch purple coalitions or as offering an appealing political style. The style was characterized variously as one "of openness, directness and clearness", populism or simply as charisma. Another school holds Fortuynism as a distinct ideology, with an alternative vision of society. Some argued that Fortuynism
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4416-490: The Volkskrant . He said that the Netherlands, with a population of 16 million, had enough inhabitants, and the practice of allowing as many as 40,000 asylum-seekers into the country each year had to be stopped. The actual number for 2001 was 27,000, down slightly on the previous year. He claimed that if he became part of the next government, he would pursue a restrictive immigration policy while also granting citizenship to
4554-574: The 1994 US elections . This was considered to be a creative masterstroke in his 2001 bid for prime ministership. Berlusconi committed in this contract to improving several aspects of the Italian economy and life, and promised to not stand for re-election in 2006 if he failed to honour at least four of these five promises. Firstly, he undertook to simplify the complex Italian national tax system by introducing just two income tax rates (33% for those earning over 100,000 euros , and 23% for anyone earning less than that figure: anyone earning less than 11,000 euros
4692-633: The Biotic Baking Brigade in The Hague. As a result, Fortuyn began to express a fear of being injured or assassinated and accused members of the Dutch political establishment of encouraging violence against him. On 6 May 2002, at age 54, Fortuyn was assassinated by gunshot in Hilversum , North Holland , by Volkert van der Graaf . The attack took place in a car park outside a radio studio where Fortuyn had just given an interview. This
4830-608: The Centrum Democraten , who in the 1980s wanted to remove all foreigners from the country and was repeatedly convicted for discrimination and hate speech . Fortuyn proposed that all people who already resided in the Netherlands would be allowed to stay, provided the immigrants adopted the Dutch society's consensus on human rights as their own. He stated: "not integrating means leaving" and "the borders have to be hermetically closed". He said "If it were legally possible, I'd say no more Muslims will get in here", claiming that
4968-597: The Enlightenment values. These should not yet be imposed on the Dutch population as a whole, with the exception of immigrants. Whereas American neoconservatives promoted hard power policies in relation to the Muslim world, Dutch neocons favoured a soft power approach. Shortly before the September 11 attacks , Fortuyn called for a Cold War against Islam, meaning a non-military defensive enmity. The attacks and
5106-670: The European debt crisis , the resignation of Berlusconi as prime minister came on 16 November 2011. Berlusconi led the People of Freedom and its right-wing allies in the campaign for the 2013 Italian general election . Although he initially planned to run for a fifth term as prime minister, as part of the agreement with the Lega Nord , he would instead plan to lead the coalition without becoming prime minister. Berlusconi's centre-right coalition gained 29% of votes, ranking second, after
5244-763: The Italian Social-Democratic Party , the Italian Republican Party and the Italian Liberal Party , lost much of their electoral strength almost overnight due to a large number of judicial investigations concerning the financial corruption of many of their foremost members in the Mani Pulite affair. This led to a general expectation that upcoming elections would be won by the Democratic Party of
5382-542: The Italian Socialist Party . In May 2009, Lario announced that she was to file for divorce. On 28 December 2012, Berlusconi was ordered to pay Lario $ 48 million a year in a divorce settlement, but could keep the $ 100 million house they lived in with their three children. Berlusconi's business career began in construction in the 1970s, when he built Milano Due , a development of 4,000 residential apartments east of Milan . The residential centre
5520-784: The National Alliance ( Alleanza Nazionale ), heir to the Italian Social Movement , in central and southern regions. In a pragmatic move, he did not ally with the latter in the North because Lega Nord disliked them. Consequently, Forza Italia was allied with two parties that were not allied with each other. Berlusconi launched a massive campaign of electoral advertisements on his three TV networks and prepared his top advertising salesmen with seminars and screen tests, of whom 50 were subsequently elected despite an absence of legislative experience. He subsequently won
5658-639: The Pentapartito , who were shocked and confused by Mani Pulite scandals, that Forza Italia offered both a fresh uniqueness and the continuation of the pro-Western free-market policies followed by Italy since the end of World War II . Shortly after he decided to enter the political arena, investigators into the Mani Pulite affair were said to be close to issuing warrants for the arrest of Berlusconi and senior executives of his business group. During his political career, Berlusconi repeatedly stated that
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5796-489: The Soviet Union , an issue on which the coalition parties themselves initially had significantly different opinions. Lega Nord insisted on a federalist reform ( devolution of more power to the regions) as a condition for remaining in the coalition. The National Alliance party pushed for a strong premiership (more powers to the prime minister). Difficulties in negotiating an agreement caused some internal unrest in
5934-777: The University of Amsterdam and transferred after a few months to the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. In 1971 he ended his study with the Academic degree Doctorandus . In 1981 he received a doctorate in sociology at the University of Groningen as a Doctor of Philosophy. Fortuyn worked as a lecturer at the Nyenrode Business Universiteit and as an associate professor at the University of Groningen , where he taught Marxist sociology. He
6072-457: The University of Milan , graduating with honours in 1961, with a thesis on the legal aspects of advertising. He was not required to serve the standard one-year stint in the Italian army which was compulsory at the time. During his university studies, he played upright bass in a group formed with the now Mediaset Chairman and amateur pianist Fedele Confalonieri and occasionally performed as
6210-583: The War on Terror made Islam a main issue in Dutch politics for the first time. Fortuyn announced his intention to run for parliament in a television interview with EenVandaag in 2001, although he did not specify which party he would seek to stand as a candidate with. Although he was already in contact with the newly formed Livable Netherlands (LN) party, he also considered running for the Christian Democratic Appeal which he had worked as
6348-475: The majority bonus system . This electoral law, approved shortly before the election by Berlusconi's coalition in an attempt to improve their chances of winning the election, led to the coalition's defeat and gave Prodi the chance to form a new cabinet. Prodi's coalition government consisted of a large number of smaller parties. If only one of these nine parties that formed The Union withdrew its support to Prodi, his government would have collapsed. This situation
6486-473: The national conservative National Alliance (AN) and President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies , became a vocal critic of the leadership of Berlusconi. Fini departed from party's majority line on several issues but, most of all, he was a proponent of a more structured party organisation. His criticism was aimed at the leadership style of Berlusconi, who tends to rely on his personal charisma to lead
6624-682: The prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1994 to 2013; a member of the Senate of the Republic from 2022 until his death in 2023, and previously from March to November 2013; and a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2019 to 2022, and previously from 1999 to 2001. With a net worth of US$ 6.8 billion in June 2023, Berlusconi
6762-585: The social democratic Labour Party (whose parliamentary group was halved in size); both parties replaced their leaders shortly after their losses. The election winners were the Pim Fortuyn List , and the Christian democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) whose leader Jan Peter Balkenende went on to become prime minister. Some commentators in the mainstream political class speculated that Fortuyn's perceived martyrdom created greater support for
6900-405: The 15th anniversary of Berlusconi's first electoral victory. While Forza Italia had never held a formal party congress to formulate its rules, procedures, and democratic balloting for candidates and issues, (since 1994 three party conventions of Forza Italia have been held, all of them resolving to support Berlusconi and reelecting him by acclamation) on 27 March 2009, at the foundation congress of
7038-463: The 190th-richest man in the world, with a net worth of US$ 8 billion. In 2009, Forbes ranked him 12th in the list of the World's Most Powerful People due to his domination of Italian politics throughout more than fifteen years at the head of the centre-right coalition . Berlusconi was prime minister for nine years in total, making him the longest serving post-war prime minister of Italy, and
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#17327727860337176-483: The 1970s he joined the Labour Party and became a social democrat . In 1986, his views shifted towards neoliberalism in the hope that the free market would lead to further individual emancipation, ending a perceived oppression by state bureaucracy . In 1991, he proposed firing half of all civil servants and promoted privatisation and decentralisation . In 1992, Fortuyn wrote Aan het volk van Nederland ("To
7314-431: The 1990s became a member of the centre-right VVD and was briefly a political consultant to the Christian Democratic Appeal in the early 2000s. Though on economic matters Fortuyn would largely remain a neoliberal, culturally he soon became strongly influenced by the neoconservative political philosopher and chief editor of the weekly Elsevier Hendrik Jan Schoo who made him a columnist in 1993. Schoo deplored that
7452-593: The April 2006 general election was held. The results of this election handed Romano Prodi 's centre-left coalition, known as The Union (Berlusconi's opposition), a very thin majority: 49.8% against 49.7% for the centre-right coalition House of Freedoms in the Lower House , and a two-senator lead in the Senate (158 senators for The Union and 156 for the House of Freedoms). The Court of Cassation subsequently validated
7590-459: The Berlusconi government in 2003, but they were mostly overcome and the law including devolution of powers to the regions, Federal Senate, and strong premiership, was passed by the Senate in April 2004; it was slightly modified by the Chamber of Deputies in October 2004, and again in October 2005, and finally approved by the Senate on 16 November 2005, with a narrow majority. Approval in a referendum
7728-526: The Cape of Good Hope bound for Batavia Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Fortuyn . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fortuyn&oldid=1197676082 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
7866-412: The Chamber of Deputies in a neutral way. Berlusconi asked Fini to step down, and the executive proposed the suspension from party membership of three MPs who had harshly criticised Berlusconi and accused some party members of criminal offences. As response, Fini and his followers formed their own groups in both chambers under the name of Future and Freedom (FLI). It was soon clear that FLI would leave
8004-752: The Dutch financial contribution to the European Union . He was labelled a far-right populist by his opponents and in the media, but he fiercely rejected this label. Fortuyn was openly gay and a supporter of gay rights. Fortuyn explicitly distanced himself from "far-right" politicians such as the Belgian Filip Dewinter , Austrian Jörg Haider , or Frenchman Jean-Marie Le Pen whenever compared to them. While he compared his own politics to centre-right politicians such as Silvio Berlusconi of Italy and Edmund Stoiber of Germany, he also admired former Dutch Prime Minister Joop den Uyl ,
8142-535: The Dutch people. In the run-up to the 2002 election, GroenLinks leader Paul Rosenmöller claimed Fortuyn's policies were "not just right but extreme right ". Fortuyn often responded to criticism by stating that his views were misunderstood or distorted by the media, and in turn rejected comparisons and expressed his personal distaste for radical far-right politicians in other European countries. He explicitly distanced himself from Jean-Marie Le Pen and criticised some of his policies, including Le Pen's downplaying of
8280-438: The Dutch talk show Jensen! that was broadcast shortly before his death, Fortuyn accused members of the Dutch government and political establishment of putting his life in danger through repeatedly demonizing him and his beliefs. Fortuyn changed the Dutch political landscape. The 2002 elections, only weeks after Fortuyn's death, were marked by large losses for the liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and especially
8418-581: The Holocaust. In domestic politics, Fortuyn also distanced his views from hard-right Dutch politicians such as Hans Janmaat and Joop Glimmerveen (who called for the mass expulsion of foreigners from the Netherlands) by maintaining that if he came to power, he would pardon existing illegal immigrants if they had lived in the Netherlands for over five years and offer them a path to citizenship if they could be assimilated into society. In an interview on
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#17327727860338556-503: The House of Representatives Geert Wilders who in 2006 formed the Party for Freedom (which became the largest party in the House of Representatives in 2023 ) and Thierry Baudet , leader of the Forum for Democracy party. These politicians often focus on the debate over cultural assimilation and integration . Supporters of Fortuyn went on to set up the annual Pim Fortuyn Prize which
8694-515: The LPF was able to form a coalition with the Christian Democratic Appeal and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy , it was bereft with internal strife and quickly lost steam. The coalition cabinet of Jan Peter Balkenende fell within three months, due to infighting within the LPF. In the following elections, the LPF was left with only eight seats in parliament (out of 150) and was not included in
8832-556: The LPF, hence that party's brief surge to 17% of the electoral vote and 26 of the 150 seats in the Dutch Parliament. Others opined that voters who would have otherwise supported the LPF had Fortuyn not been murdered voted for the CDA as Balkenende had not joined in with other party leaders in attacking Fortuyn. Balkenende later claimed to have shared some of Fortuyn's opinions and pledged to implement some of his policy ideas. Although
8970-454: The Left , the heirs to the former Italian Communist Party , and their Alliance of Progressives coalition unless an alternative arose. On 26 January 1994, Berlusconi announced his decision to enter politics, in his own words to "enter the field", presenting his own political party, Forza Italia , on a platform focused on defeating communists . His political aim was to convince the voters of
9108-603: The Mammì law, named after Oscar Mammì . In 1987, it bought out home video distributor Domovideo, in a seesaw contest with Vincenzo Romagnoli . In 1995, Berlusconi sold a portion of his media holdings, first to the German media group Kirch Group (now bankrupt) and then by public offer. In 1999, Berlusconi expanded his media interests by forming a partnership with Kirch called the Epsilon MediaGroup . On 9 July 2011,
9246-509: The Mani Pulite investigations were led by communist prosecutors who wanted to establish a Soviet -style government in Italy. To win the March 1994 general election, Berlusconi formed two separate electoral alliances: Pole of Freedoms ( Polo delle Libertà ) with Lega Nord (Northern League) in northern Italian districts, and another, the Pole of Good Government ( Polo del Buon Governo ), with
9384-427: The Muslim people, but it takes two to tango ." Fortuyn also maintained that he did not object to Muslim immigrants because of their race or ethnicity, and was not against a multi-racial society, but opposed what he saw as lack of integration and unwillingness to adapt to Dutch standards of modernity and social liberalism within Muslim communities. On 9 February 2002, additional statements made by him were carried in
9522-400: The Netherlands did not accept Dutch society; he believed that the religion of Islam was fundamentally intolerant and incompatible with Western values. He said that Muslims in the Netherlands needed to accept living together with the Dutch, and that if this was unacceptable for them, then they were free to leave. His concluding words in the TV program were "... I want to live together with
9660-564: The PdL and become an independent party. On 7 November, during a convention in Bastia Umbra , Fini asked Berlusconi to step down from his post of prime minister and proposed a new government including the Union of the Centre (UdC). A few days later, the four FLI members of the government resigned. On 14 December, FLI voted against Berlusconi in a vote of confidence in the Chamber of Deputies,
9798-554: The PdL joint list, allied with Lega Nord of Bossi and the Movement for Autonomy of Raffaele Lombardo . In the snap elections held on 13–14 April 2008, this coalition won against Walter Veltroni 's centre-left coalition in both houses of the Italian Parliament . In the 315-member Senate of the Republic, Berlusconi's coalition won 174 seats to Veltroni's 134. In the lower house , Berlusconi's conservative bloc led by
9936-464: The PdL political movement the statute of the new party was subject to a vote of approval. On 5,820 voting delegates, 5,811 voted in favour, 4 against and 5 abstained. During that political congress Berlusconi was elected as chairman of the PdL by a show of hands. According to the official minutes of the congress the result favoured Berlusconi, with 100 per cent of the delegates voting for him. Between 2009 and 2010, Gianfranco Fini , former leader of
10074-628: The Penal Code, incitement to hatred). Having been rejected by Livable Netherlands, Fortuyn founded his own party Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) on 11 February 2002, taking many former LN members and supporters with him. Heading the list of the Livable Rotterdam party, considered to be the local counterpart of the LPF, he achieved a major victory in the Rotterdam municipal council elections in early March 2002. The new party won about 36% of
10212-556: The Republic Giorgio Napolitano call a fresh election, Berlusconi announced from the running board of a car in a crowded Piazza San Babila in Milan that Forza Italia would soon merge or transform into The People of Freedom , also known as the PdL ( Il Popolo della Libertà ). Berlusconi also stated that this new political movement could include the participation of other parties. Both supporters and critics of
10350-442: The Senate after winning a seat in the 2022 Italian general election , then died the following year from complications of chronic leukaemia , and was given a state funeral . Berlusconi was known for his populist political style and brash personality. In his long tenure, he was often accused of being an authoritarian leader and a strongman . At the height of his power, Berlusconi was the richest person in Italy, owned three of
10488-709: The centre-left coalition Italy Common Good led by Pier Luigi Bersani . Subsequently, Berlusconi's allies supported the Letta Cabinet headed by Enrico Letta of the Democratic Party , together with the centrist Civic Choice of former prime minister Mario Monti . Berlusconi was criticised for his electoral coalitions with right-wing populist parties (Lega Nord and the National Alliance ) and for apologetic remarks about Mussolini; he also officially apologised for Italy's actions in Libya during colonial rule . While in power, Berlusconi maintained ownership of Mediaset ,
10626-432: The coalition parties, and he was succeeded as prime minister by Lamberto Dini . In the 1996 Italian general election , Berlusconi was defeated by the centre-left candidate Romano Prodi . In the 2001 Italian general election , he was again the centre-right candidate for prime minister and won against the centre-left candidate Francesco Rutelli . Berlusconi then formed his second and third cabinets, until 2006. Berlusconi
10764-596: The coalition receiving 49.6% of the vote for the Chamber of Deputies and 42.5% for the Senate of the Republic . On the television interview programme Porta a Porta , during the last days of the electoral campaign, Berlusconi created a powerful impression on the public by undertaking to sign the Contratto con gli Italiani ( Contract with the Italians ), an idea copied by his advisor Luigi Crespi from Newt Gingrich 's Contract with America introduced six weeks before
10902-405: The current political system in the Netherlands and was used as his political agenda for the upcoming general election . Purple is the colour to indicate a coalition government consisting of left parties (red) and conservative-liberal parties (blue). The Netherlands had been governed by such a coalition for eight years at that time. On 14 March 2002, Fortuyn was pied by a left-wing activist from
11040-475: The elections and were replaced by a centre-left government led by Romano Prodi . In 2001, Berlusconi ran again, as leader of the right-wing coalition House of Freedoms ( La Casa delle Libertà ), which included the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats , Lega Nord , the National Alliance , and other parties. Berlusconi's success in the May 2001 general election led to him becoming prime minister once more, with
11178-493: The elections, with Forza Italia garnering 21% of the popular vote, more than any other single party. One of the most significant promises that he made to secure victory was that his government would create "one million more jobs". He was appointed prime minister in 1994, but his term in office was short because of the inherent contradictions in his coalition: the League, a regional party with a strong electoral base in northern Italy,
11316-468: The fact that many of its MPs had switched to Forza Italia, allegedly lured by promises of more prestigious portfolios. In 1998, various articles attacking Berlusconi were published by Lega Nord's official newspaper La Padania , with titles such as "La Fininvest è nata da Cosa Nostra" ('Fininvest [Berlusconi's principal company] was founded by the Mafia'). Berlusconi remained as caretaker prime minister for
11454-409: The five years leading up to 1983, he earned some 113 billion Italian lire (€58.3 million). The funding sources are still unknown because of a complex system of holding companies , despite investigations conducted by various prosecutors . Fininvest soon expanded into a country-wide network of local TV stations which had similar programming, forming, in effect, a single national network. At
11592-487: The following year. TeleMilano was one of the first Italian private television channels and later evolved into Canale 5 , the first national private TV station. After buying two further channels, Berlusconi relocated the station to central Milan in 1977 and began broadcasting over the airwaves. In 1975, Berlusconi founded his first media group, Fininvest. In 1978 he joined the Propaganda Due masonic lodge . In
11730-408: The former include accusations of having mismanaged the state budget and of increasing the Italian government debt . The second criticism concerns his vigorous pursuit of his personal interests while in office, including benefitting from his own companies' growth due to policies promoted by his governments, having vast conflicts of interest due to ownership of a media empire, and being blackmailed as
11868-468: The goals of the agreement, and said his Government provided un miracolo continuo (a continuous miracle) that made all 'earlier governments pale' (by comparison). He attributed the widespread failure to recognise these achievements to a campaign of mystification and vilification in the print media, asserting that 85% of newspapers were opposed to him. Luca Ricolfi, an independent analyst, held that Berlusconi had managed to deliver only one promise out of five,
12006-456: The government decided not to postpone the elections. As Dutch law did not permit modifying the ballots, Fortuyn became a posthumous candidate. The LPF made an unprecedented debut in the House of Representatives by winning 26 seats (17% of the 150 seats in the house). The LPF joined a cabinet with the Christian Democratic Appeal and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy , but conflicts in
12144-421: The influx of Muslims would threaten freedoms in the liberal Dutch society. He thought Muslim culture had never undergone a process of modernisation and therefore still lacked acceptance of democracy and women's, gays', lesbians' and minorities' rights. When asked by the Dutch newspaper Volkskrant whether he hated Islam, he replied: I don't hate Islam. I consider it a backward culture. I have travelled much in
12282-403: The largest media company in Italy, and was criticised for his dominance of the Italian media. His leadership was also undermined by sex scandals . Berlusconi entered politics in 1994, reportedly admitting to Indro Montanelli and Enzo Biagi that he was forced to do so to avoid imprisonment. He served as prime minister of Italy from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. His career
12420-473: The left and was initially a Marxist due to an aversion to the Dutch political establishment which he described as dominated by pillarization and a " regent mentality." He was sympathetic to the Dutch Communist Party but chose not to become a member due to personal disagreements with the party leadership and self-identified as a Marxist without becoming active in any communist organisations. In
12558-471: The main TV channels of the country, and indirectly controlled RAI through his own government. He was the owner of Italy's biggest publishing company, several newspapers and magazines, and one of the largest football clubs in Europe. At the time of his death, The Guardian wrote that Berlusconi "gathered himself more power than was ever wielded by one individual in a Western democracy". Berlusconi remained
12696-404: The new government. Many of the LPF's successive leaders were not regarded as charismatic as Fortuyn and as the next cabinet under Balkenende continued many of the former coalition's policies, it became harder for the LPF to present an alternative image to the government. However, political commentators speculated that discontented voters might vote for a non-traditional party, if a viable alternative
12834-480: The new party called Berlusconi's announcement "the running board revolution" (Italian: la rivoluzione del predellino ). After the sudden fall of the Prodi II Cabinet on 24 January, the break-up of The Union , and the subsequent political crisis, which paved the way for a fresh general election in April 2008, Berlusconi, Gianfranco Fini and other party leaders finally agreed on 8 February 2008 to form
12972-446: The next day. Against the advice of his campaign team, Fortuyn said in the interview that he favoured closing borders to Muslim immigrants and if possible he would abolish the "peculiar article" of the Dutch constitution forbidding discrimination (at the time it was generally assumed that he referred to Article 1, the equality before the law ; it has been argued, however, that Fortuyn and the interviewer had confused this with Article 137 of
13110-448: The one concerning minimum pension rates. According to Ricolfi, the other four promises were not honoured, in particular the undertakings on tax simplification and crime reduction. The House of Freedoms did not do as well in the 2003 local elections as it did in the 2001 national elections. In common with many other European governing groups, in the 2004 elections to the European Parliament , gained 43.37% support. Forza Italia's support
13248-471: The party from the centre and supports a less structured form of party, a movement-party that organises itself only at election times. On 15 April 2010, an association named Generation Italy was launched to better represent Fini's views within the party and push for a different form of party organisation. On 22 April 2010 the National Committee of the PdL convened in Rome for the first time in
13386-468: The people of the Netherlands"), in which he declared himself to be the spiritual successor of the charismatic but controversial 18th-century Dutch patriot politician Joan Derk van der Capellen tot den Pol . The book urges the already culturally emancipated citizen to use the free market to also liberate himself economically, from the welfare state . In 1989, Fortuyn left the Labour Party and during
13524-429: The progressive movement of the 1960s had eroded traditional norms and values. Both the roles of the "symbolic father" and the "caring mother" had been lost, leaving an orphaned population without guidance, to live out a meaningless decadent existence. However, Fortuyn did not propose a return to old socially conservative or Dutch Calvinist and iconoclastic values and argued that the media, schools and artists should provide
13662-443: The purple coalition under Wim Kok . Contemporary Dutch politics is more polarized than it has been in recent years, especially on the issues for which Fortuyn was best known. People debate the success of their multicultural society , and whether they need to better assimilate newcomers. The government's decision in 2004 to more strictly expel asylum seekers whose applications had failed was controversial. Fortuyn had advocated for
13800-408: The regions ( Lombardy and Veneto ) up for re-election. Three parties, Union of Christian and Centre Democrats , National Alliance and New Italian Socialist Party , threatened to withdraw from the Berlusconi government. Berlusconi after some hesitation, then presented to the president of Italy a request for the dissolution of his government on 20 April. On 23 April, he formed a new government with
13938-429: The right in the 1990s, especially related to the immigration policies of the Netherlands. Fortuyn criticised multiculturalism , immigration and Islam in the Netherlands . He called Islam "a backward culture", and was quoted as saying that if it were legally possible, he would close the borders for Muslim immigrants. Fortuyn also supported tougher measures against crime and opposed state bureaucracy , wanting to reduce
14076-553: The rudderless LPF quickly collapsed the cabinet, forcing new elections. By the following year, the party had lost support, winning only eight seats in the 2003 elections . It won no seats in the 2006 elections , by which time the Party for Freedom , led by Geert Wilders , had emerged as a successor. During the last months of his life, Fortuyn had become closer to the Catholic Church. To the surprise of many commentators and Dutch TV hosts, Fortuyn insisted on Fr. Louis Berger,
14214-492: The run-up to the 2006 general election, there had been talk among some of the coalition members of the House of Freedoms about a possible merger into a "united party of moderates and reformers". Forza Italia , the National Alliance of Gianfranco Fini , and the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats of Pier Ferdinando Casini all seemed interested in the project. Soon after the election, Casini started to distance his party from its historical allies. On 2 December 2006, during
14352-551: The same allies, reshuffling ministers and amending the government programme. A key point demanded by the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats and to a lesser extent by the National Alliance for their continued support was that the strong focus on tax reduction be reduced. A key point in the Berlusconi government's programme was a planned reform of the Italian constitution , which Berlusconi considered to be inspired by
14490-500: The seats, making it the largest party in the council. For the first time since the Second World War , the Labour Party was out of power in Rotterdam . Fortuyn's victory made him the subject of hundreds of interviews during the next three months, and he made many statements about his political ideology . In March he released his book The Mess of Eight Purple Years ( De puinhopen van acht jaar Paars ), which criticised
14628-440: The show said that votes counted before the end of the show would be decisive, but it was suggested that all votes correctly cast before the closing of the vote would be counted. Following the official rules, the outcome was not changed. Right-wing politicians gained greater public influence after Fortuyn's death, such as former Minister for Integration & Immigration Rita Verdonk , the prominent critic of Islam , Member of
14766-539: The socio-culturally liberal values of the Netherlands, women's rights and sexual minorities (he was openly gay himself), from the "backward" Islamic culture. He held liberal views favouring the drug policy of the Netherlands , same-sex marriage , euthanasia , and related positions. Fortuyn was also a member of the Republican Society , and favoured a US-style system with an elected president, elected mayors and police commissioners. He also expressed support for
14904-444: The state maintained prohibitions on live broadcasting and private news channels. Berlusconi was the first to successfully bypass these restrictions by distributing simultaneously pre-recorded broadcasts across multiple local stations, effectively creating the impression of a national live television network. In 1980, Berlusconi founded Italy's first private national network, Canale 5 , followed shortly thereafter by Italia 1 , which
15042-506: The state of Israel throughout his political career. The LPF also won support from some ethnic minorities; one of Fortuyn's closest associates was of Cape Verdean origin, and one of the party's MPs was a young woman of Turkish descent. His ideology comprised the following positions: Fortuyn was compared with the politicians Jörg Haider and Jean-Marie Le Pen in the foreign press. These comparisons were often referred to by Dutch reporters and politicians. An explicit comparison with Le Pen
15180-539: The third-longest-serving since Italian unification , after Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Giolitti . He was the leader of the centre-right party Forza Italia from 1994 to 2009, and its successor party The People of Freedom from 2009 to 2013. He led the revived Forza Italia from 2013 to 2023. Berlusconi was the senior G8 leader from 2009 until 2011, and he held the record for hosting G8 summits (having hosted three summits in Italy). After serving nearly 19 years as
15318-472: The time, laws permitted only the national broadcaster RAI to operate throughout the country, and this was seen as an effort to circumvent the state monopoly . Prior to 1974, Italian television was entirely under state ownership. Despite the landmark 1976 ruling by the Constitutional Court of Italy (decision no. 202/1976), which allowed private entities to operate local television stations ,
15456-407: The voting procedures and determined that the election process was constitutional. According to the new electoral rules, The Union, nicknamed "The Soviet Union" by Berlusconi, with a margin of only 25,224 votes (out of over 38 million voters) won 348 seats (compared to 281 for the House of Freedoms) in the lower house given to whichever coalition of parties was awarded more votes as a result of
15594-467: The word achterlijk , literally meaning "backward", but commonly used as an insult in the sense of " retarded ". After his use of "achterlijk" caused an uproar, Fortuyn said he had used the word with its literal meaning of "backward". Fortuyn wrote Against the Islamization of Our Culture (1997) (in Dutch ). The ideology or political style that is derived from Pim Fortuyn, and in turn the LPF,
15732-585: The world. And wherever Islam rules, it's just terrible. All the hypocrisy. It's a bit like those old Reformed Protestants . The Reformed lie all the time. And why is that? Because they have standards and values that are so high that you can't humanly maintain them. You also see that in that Muslim culture. Then look at the Netherlands. In what country could an electoral leader of such a large movement as mine be openly homosexual? How wonderful that that's possible. That's something that one can be proud of. And I'd like to keep it that way, thank you very much. Fortuyn used
15870-477: Was assassinated during the 2002 Dutch national election campaign by Volkert van der Graaf , a left-wing environmentalist and animal rights activist. In court at his trial, van der Graaf said he murdered Fortuyn to stop him from exploiting Muslims as "scapegoats" and targeting "the weak members of society" in seeking political power. The LPF went on to poll in second place during the election but went into decline soon after. Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn
16008-643: Was demonized . In it he said that he often had to tell journalists that the image created of him in the media was incorrect. Columnist Jan Blokker wrote that "[a]fter reading [...] I realized once again that Professor Pim may really be called the Jean-Marie Le Pen, the Filip Dewinter, the Jörg Haider and the new Hans Janmaat of the Netherlands." Prime Minister Wim Kok accused Fortuyn of stirring up fear and stimulating xenophobia among
16146-626: Was also an employee of the Groningen University Newspaper for which he wrote columns. He was a Marxist at the time and sympathized with the Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN), although he never became a full member. Later, he joined the Labour Party . In 1989 Fortuyn became director of a government organisation administering student transport cards and worked as an advisor to the Social and Economic Council (SER). In 1990 he moved to Rotterdam . From 1991 to 1995, he
16284-529: Was also reduced from 29.5% to 21.0% (in the 1999 European elections Forza Italia had 25.2%). As an outcome of these results, the other coalition parties, whose electoral results were more satisfactory, asked Berlusconi and Forza Italia for greater influence on the government's political line. In the regional elections on 3–4 April 2005, centre-left candidates for regional presidencies won in 11 out of 13 regions where control of local governments and presidencies were at stake. Berlusconi's coalition held only two of
16422-558: Was also the result of the new electoral system. Centrist parties such as the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats immediately conceded The Union's victory, while other parties, such as Berlusconi's Forza Italia and the Northern League, refused to accept its validity, right up until 2 May 2006, when Berlusconi submitted his resignation to then President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi . In
16560-585: Was an extraordinary professor at the Erasmus University Rotterdam , appointed to the Albeda-chair in "employment conditions in public service" and ran an education consultancy business. When his contract ended, he made a career of public speaking, writing books and press columns, and worked as a weekly columnist for Elsevier . He gradually involved himself in politics through regularly appearing on televised debate shows and became
16698-454: Was assisted by his connections to Bettino Craxi , secretary-general of the Italian Socialist Party and also the prime minister of Italy at that time, whose government passed, on 20 October 1984, an emergency decree legalising the nationwide transmissions made by Berlusconi's television stations. This was in response to judgements on 16 October 1984, in Turin , Pescara , and Rome , enforcing
16836-477: Was at hand. Later, the right-wing Party for Freedom , which has a strong stance on immigration, proposing to deport criminal, unemployed or not assimilated non-western immigrants, won nine (out of 150) seats in the 2006 elections and became the largest party in the 2023 elections , reaching 37 seats. The Netherlands has made its asylum policy more strict. Opponents of Fortuynism , such as Paul Rosenmöller , Thom de Graaf , and Ad Melkert (all labelling Fortuyn as
16974-492: Was at that time fluctuating between federalist and separatist positions and the National Alliance was a nationalist party that had yet to renounce neo-fascism at the time. In December 1994, following the leaking to the press of news of a fresh investigation by Milan magistrates, Umberto Bossi , leader of the Lega Nord , left the coalition claiming that the electoral pact had not been respected. This in turn forced Berlusconi to resign from office. Lega Nord also resented
17112-451: Was automatically pardoned under Italian law; because he had been sentenced to gross imprisonment for more than two years, he was banned from holding legislative office for six years and expelled from the Senate. Berlusconi pledged to stay leader of Forza Italia throughout his custodial sentence and public office ban. After his ban ended, Berlusconi ran for and was elected as an MEP at the 2019 European Parliament election . He returned to
17250-471: Was born on 19 February 1948 in Driehuis within the Dutch municipality of Velsen , as the third child to a middle class Catholic family. His father worked as a salesman and his mother was a housewife. He attended Mendelcollege secondary school in Haarlem where he was described as an academically gifted pupil. As a youth, Fortuyn initially wanted to train as a priest, but in 1967 he began to study sociology at
17388-456: Was bought from the Rusconi family in 1982, and Rete 4 , which was bought from Mondadori in 1984. He then launched three international sister networks: La Cinq (1986), Tele 5 (1988), and Telecinco (1989). La Cinq and Tele 5 ceased operations in 1992 and were later replaced by La Cinquième and DSF , respectively. Berlusconi created the first and only Italian commercial TV empire. He
17526-593: Was built by Edilnord, a Berlusconi-owned company associated with the Fininvest group. Works began on the project in 1970 and was completed in 1979. The profits from this venture provided the seed money for his advertising agency. Berlusconi first entered the media world in the 1970s, buying from Giacomo Properzj and Alceo Moretti a small cable television company, TeleMilano, to service units built on his Segrate properties. It began transmitting in September of
17664-458: Was held by viewers' voting through the internet and by phoning in. Theo van Gogh had been murdered a few days before by a Muslim, which likely affected people's voting in the TV contest for Fortuyn. The program later revealed that William of Orange had received the most votes, but many could not be counted until after the official closing time of the television show (and the proclamation of the winner), due to technical problems. The official rules of
17802-591: Was made by Ad Melkert , then lijsttrekker of the Labour Party , who said in Emmen on 24 April 2002: "If you flirt with Fortuyn, then in the Netherlands the same thing will happen as happened in France. There they woke up with Le Pen, soon we will wake up with Fortuyn." On 5 May, the day before the assassination, Fortuyn in a debate with Melkert organized by the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper claimed that he
17940-469: Was nine days before the general election , in which he was running. The attacker was pursued by Hans Smolders , Fortuyn's driver, and was arrested by the police shortly afterward, still in possession of a handgun. Months later, Van der Graaf confessed in court to the first notable political assassination in the Netherlands since 1672 (excluding World War II ). On 15 April 2003, he was convicted of assassinating Fortuyn and sentenced to 18 years in prison. He
18078-483: Was not able to achieve the goals he promised in his Contratto con gli Italiani . Some of his partners in government, especially the National Alliance and the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats , admitted the Government fell short of the promises made in the agreement, attributing the failure to an unforeseeable downturn in global economic conditions. Berlusconi himself consistently asserted that he achieved all
18216-425: Was not just one ideology, but contained liberalism, populism and nationalism . During the 2002 campaign, Fortuyn was accused by some of being on the "extreme right", although others saw only certain similarities. While he employed anti-immigration rhetoric, he considered himself neither a radical nationalist nor a defender of traditional authoritarian values. On the contrary, Fortuyn claimed he wanted to protect
18354-518: Was open to working with the opposition, and pledged to fight tax avoidance and tax evasion , reform the judicial system and reduce public debt. He intended to reduce the number of cabinet ministers to 12. Berlusconi and his ministers ( Berlusconi IV Cabinet ) were sworn in on 8 May 2008. On 21 November 2008, the National Council of Forza Italia dissolved Forza Italia and established the PdL, whose inauguration took place on 27 March 2009,
18492-469: Was racked with controversies and trials ; among these was his failure to honour his promise to sell his personal assets in Mediaset , the largest television broadcaster in Italy, to dispel any perceived conflicts of interest . In the early 1990s, the five governing parties known as the Pentapartito , including Christian Democracy ( Italian : Democrazia Cristiana ), the Italian Socialist Party ,
18630-440: Was released on parole in May 2014 after serving two-thirds of his sentence, the standard procedure under the Dutch penal system. The assassination shocked many residents of the Netherlands and highlighted the cultural clashes within the country. Various conspiracy theories arose after Pim Fortuyn's murder and deeply affected Dutch politics and society. Politicians from all parties suspended campaigning. After consultation with LPF,
18768-477: Was the leader of the centre-right coalition in the 2006 Italian general election , which he lost by a very narrow margin, his opponent again being Prodi. He was re-elected in the 2008 Italian general election following the collapse of the Second Prodi government and sworn in for the third time as prime minister on 8 May 2008. After losing his majority in parliament amid growing fiscal problems related to
18906-429: Was the third-wealthiest person in Italy at the time of his death. Berlusconi rose into the financial elite of Italy in the late 1960s. He was the controlling shareholder of Mediaset and owned the Italian football club AC Milan from 1986 to 2017. He was nicknamed Il Cavaliere ('The Knight') for his Order of Merit for Labour ; he voluntarily resigned from this order in March 2014. In 2018, Forbes ranked him as
19044-534: Was to be re-invented by identifying that enemy as Islam. In his 1997 book Tegen de islamisering van onze cultuur ("Against the islamisation of our culture"), Fortuyn proposed that after the fall of communism a new adversary would be found in Muslim culture. Fortuyn explained the global fundamentalist wave of the 1990s as a backlash against the insecurities caused by globalisation . The Dutch should counter Islamic fundamentalism by promoting and defending their own fundament , Dutch culture, especially modernism and
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