ALL IS not sweetness and light in the Berlusconi household, or so it would seem. Veronica Lario, wife of Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, yesterday left her famous husband with no small amount of explaining to do after she released an interview to Italian news agency ANSA, in which she bitterly criticised his PDL Freedom Party.
Asked to comment on the fact that the PDL is likely to run a number of glamorous young actresses, showgirls and TV stars as candidates in the forthcoming European elections, Ms Lario denounced the move, calling it “shameless rubbish in the name of power” and something which “works against women in general”.
Ms Lario then moved closer to home when commenting on reports that the prime minister last Sunday night in Naples had made a surprise appearance at the 18th birthday party of Noemi Letizia, daughter of a friend of the Berlusconi family.
Even if Mr Berlusconi had gone to Naples for a series of meetings on Monday linked to the resolution of the city’s ongoing garbage crisis, his wife was not much impressed.
“That really surprised me because he never bothered to attend even one 18th birthday party for his own children, even though he was always invited. I and my children are the victims in this situation.”
This is not the first time that Ms Lario has publicly criticised her husband, with whom she has three children, Barbara (24), Eleonora (22) and Luigi (20).
In January 2007, she wrote an open letter to Rome daily La Repubblica, in which she demanded a public apology from her husband after he had been a tad too effusive in his praise of showgirl Mara Cafagna during a TV awards ceremony. Since then, the glamorous Ms Carfagna has exchanged show business for politics and she now serves as the minister for equal opportunity in the current Berlusconi government.
In Warsaw yesterday, the prime minister suggested that his wife had been misinformed and that she was the victim of a leftist media campaign which had generated “unfounded reports” about candidates.
Mr Berlusconi said however he wanted to “renew” politics by presenting candidates who were “smart and educated and who will guarantee to attend all the voting sessions”.