 Editor's note: CNN anchor Nina dos Santos spent four years in Italy as a correspondent and covered Silvio Berlusconi’s re-election in 2008. (CNN) – As world leaders battled to stave off another recession, Silvio Berlusconi spent much of the summit season eyeing the contours of his female counterparts. Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was the latest to suffer the ignominy of being ogled by the Italian Premier at the G20 in Cannes, while cameras caught Berlusconi leering at Denmark’s Helle Thorning-Schmidt in Brussels. Berlusconi clearly has a head for figures. Unfortunately he has been focussing on the wrong kind for too long – much to the detriment of his long-suffering electorate. As the sun finally sets on his time in office, he leaves the eurozone’s third-largest economy in tatters with the world’s fourth-largest debt pile. Italy matters because it accounts for nearly 13% of the European Union’s total output. The nation’s debt load, however, is close to a fifth of the bloc’s total. Another set of vital statistics, which fatefully for "Il Cavaliere" is also going in opposite directions. While Italy’s obligations have continued to climb, growth has stagnated, meaning urgent austerity measures are needed to close the gap. Now the country aims to eradicate its budget deficit by 2013 (a year earlier than previously planned). That’s an ambitious plan by anyone’s standards, but given Italy’s slow pace of reform the government’s targets appear increasingly unrealistic, just like its cosmetically enhanced leader. Berlusconi first rose to power in the mid-1990s. At the time, Italy was one of Europe’s richest places with a GDP per capita second-only to Germany. Between 2001 and 2008 the country slipped behind both the UK and France. Years of missed deadlines and loopy legislation have left this olive belt economy more prone to recession than its neighbors. The country has been through four slumps since adopting the single currency. Its annual growth averaged at just three quarters of a percent over the past 15 years. Worse still, Italy's rigid labor market, which Berlusconi has failed to tackle, makes it difficult for the country’s young to climb onto the job ladder. The lack of flexibility will probably impede privatizations despite the abundance of family silver that could be up for sale. Add to this an aging population that will soon be facing pension cuts. Catholic charity Caritas estimates that 14% of Italians are facing poverty these days with a spike in those under 35 years old. The scope of social unrest has not gone unnoticed by the new IMF Chief Christine Lagarde. A victim of Berlusconi’s poisoned-chalice praise earlier this year, the former French finance minister warned that chronic unemployment could lead to a “lost generation” across the eurozone. Italy’s jobless rate stood at 8.3% in September. Soon even Berlusconi will be out of a job though it’s hard to imagine him "signing on" for income support. As his country’s precarious finances threaten to make the eurozone poorer, the Italian media tycoon remains the 118th richest person on the planet with a personal fortune of $6.2 billion. Yet Berlusconi is as much the symptom of his country’s crazy politics as he is the cause of its equally absurd economics. The master of reinvention and king of comebacks, Berlusconi has long been seen as one of Europe’s most unstable leaders. It is therefore somewhat ironic that he has presided over the country’s longest-running governments since World War II. He will leave big problems to solve and equally big shoes to fill.
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I have more salad servers with giraffes on the top than i know what to do with. Can't resist the haggling and bargaining
Enjoying biltong and wakaberry having spent too much on wooden animals at rosebank mall. I always end up dragging this stuff home
. @Eurovision vs. Austerityvision @ErinCNN I suppose...
RT @ErinCNN: this years @Eurovision show cost around 15 million euro. Last year cost around 35 million euro. Per eurovision spox. Less is m…
updated 631 GMT, May 19
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what a BS hateful article, i'm not saying he is a good PM but a article like this serves no purpose at all, to blame all of italy's issue on him is crap, the system is broken and taking shots at him now for looking at a woman and not only that but writing a article based on it is childish. Keep this feminism to yourself and talk about things that actually matter! cheers
Sigh... I am so jealous.
Unprofessional!!! This article does not present how Berlusconi's private life is related to Italy's financial problems...and WHY would the writer choose this photo? The woman has placed HER hand on the PM's shoulder. He looks as if he is merely responding to her.
CNN: Why are my comments always being "moderated" ??
Is that because I tell the truth about Israel ??
Your actions demonstrate what an absurdly biased, pro Israel, network you are.
Give me JUST ONE instance where I have posted any false information regarding Israel.
CNN is right alongside Fox News in it's mis- information tactics.
Happy for me that there are very many more areas where I can post the TRUTH about Israel.
For as much money this guy made I can buy pretty much all chicks on the planet
cari americani guardate in casa vostra l'esempio dei vostri presidenti prima di giudicare i nostri.
CNN's (and The Economist) articles on and related pictures of Mr. Berlusconi are always, to say the least, biased and offensive. Your is simply malicious propaganda that has nothing to do with real news or professional journalism.
Sr. B has five children, two who help run his empire and three that his second wife complains he pretty much ignores. Interesting comment by her. He simply has priorities that other government leaders put on the back burner. He has survived all the votes of confidence by making certain that each person who Could vote against him is compensated or rewarded in one way or another prior to the vote. Just politics. But that tactic works. It would seem that no one would ever have enough money so as to refuse his "generosity" for their vote. Well, that is everywhere, not just in Italy, of course. He is now free to continue his empire building with his first two children. A new era begins, but time will tell if Italy now has a new road or status quo road to follow.
Berlusconi main focus was not to diligently serve his people and country, like it or not, the fact is that he is self-centered, male chauvinist, full of himself pig, and a lot of those trends are the product of the Italian culture, but he ultimate choice of ending that way was his, since not all in Italy are as disgraceful as he's been..
Flex, you know nothing about Italian culture. If you knew it, you wouldn't write such prejudist and ignorant comment.
What a joke of an article! The "Main Stream" media have been after Berlusconi for years. Especially the Economist and Murdoch media. Probably because Berlusconi's Mediaset company is the only real rival to Murdoch's Sky Italia in Italy. It is really quite pathetic to blame Berlusconi's love life for the economic problems in Italy. Your accusation he was spending more time checking out female world leaders than concentrating on the financial/economic crisis is sickening. You should be fired from CNN immediately! RESIGN!
Congratulations on your article! Berlusconi may be rich and powerful but he is a disgrace to himself and his country. I hope his countrymen become more mature and elect more worthy leaders
@ferruccio, Totalmente d'accordo con te!!!
Makes me wonder about Herman Cain?
oh fabulous – out with the fascist right wing and in with the communist leftists. This is JUST what Italy needs.
Italians will never change: they worship Berlusconi but complain incessantly when nothing gets done.
Useless article to say the least. Cannot believe someone that writes such rubbish is a journalist.
Ciao Italiani! Non vi arrabiate... Siamo tutti un po' nella merda :)))
Berlusconi diddled while Rome burned
Grazie JoeProfet, io sono state ben 3 volte nel tuo meraviglioso pese, se mi vuoi vedere vai su http://www.pionieriorobica.it
This is what happens when the voters don't take guys like him serious. This man has been in the headlines for years with his stalking of women, from meter maids to heads of state and they looked the other way. Now Rome is about to burn. Could this happen in the USA? It seems a lot of americans are ok with looking the other way also!
Berlusconi to Alec Baldwin: "What, am I Italian?"
To big to fail, to big to jail!!!
If I were in a meeting with either of them, I'd ogle them too.
Women like a powerful man... His job is stressful... everybody needs a little relief.
@Jenny: you should look at JFK and Bill Clinton with all the women they slept with...you are such a hypo.crite!!!! Look at your own backyard before you judge someone else... also Bill Clinton was impeached, he gropped and raped alot of women... he was a duchebag and yet no american journalist takes the log out of their eyes.... the American Media and the Left Wing Media in Europe are pathetic hypo.crites.
People complain about Berlusconi but there are thousands of women waiting for a chance to be with him because he is powerful, rich and a media mogul...women throw themselves at him...he has banged at his bunga bunga parties more than anyone else... this is how women get into positions in high places... they can't do it any other way...they have to bang their way into it... just like alot of these american journalists in CNN/FOX/ABC,CBS, NBS....
To avoid a "worst case scenario" plan B:
Why can't the EU get more countries to join them like England, etc. AND THEN mirror the greatest if not the best example of a true democratic, one currency nation like USA? The EU countries can elect their own federal leader in the ECB rather than the "member' nations picking the leader. And THEY "representing and elected by the people" would have the ultimate decision making, legislating, printing currency power...???
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