News Maker... Italy's Longest-Serving Prime Minister Berlusconi Passes Away (Comprehensive)

Accumulated Wealth Through Construction, Media Tycoon
News Maker Amid Corruption and Sexual Scandal During Tenure

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (photo) passed away on the 12th at the age of 86.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that Berlusconi died at San Raffaele Hospital in Milan.

Berlusconi had been hospitalized at this hospital for four days. Previously, he was admitted here for 45 days from April 5 to May 19 due to a lung infection caused by chronic myeloid leukemia. Berlusconi had contracted COVID-19 in 2020 and had recently experienced various health issues.

Berlusconi accumulated his wealth through the construction industry and later became a media tycoon by managing Italy’s private broadcasting networks. He first became prime minister in May 1994 but resigned in January 1995, less than a year later. He returned to power in 2001 and served as prime minister until 2006. In 2008, he became Italy’s first prime minister to serve three terms, remaining in office until 2011.

During the Eurozone debt crisis, Italy fell into a severe economic recession, and Berlusconi was held responsible by some for dragging Italy, a core Eurozone country, along with Spain into financial turmoil and causing the country’s credit rating to plummet.

He was a newsmaker. The British daily The Guardian described Berlusconi as “one of Italy’s most flamboyant politicians and one of the most controversial figures in European politics.”

In 2010, he was charged with paying for sex with Karima El Mahroug, a Moroccan-born dancer who was a minor at the time, at his villa near Milan. In 2013, he was convicted of tax evasion and stripped of his Senate seat.

In last September’s Italian general election, he was elected as a senator and returned to active politics at the age of 85. His party, Forza Italia (FI), participated in the right-wing coalition led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FdI), which won the election. Forza Italia currently participates in the coalition government led by Prime Minister Meloni.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.