Marina Berlusconi: «The EU can be our salvation, or our ruin. On abortion, end of life and LGBTQ I am more in tune with the left»

«It will be called Silvio Berlusconi Editore and will have a single watchword: freedom. It will not only be a tribute to my father, but an editorial project that aims to give more strength to liberal and democratic thought, against every form of totalitarianism, in the name of that freedom which ends only where that of others begins.” Navy Berlusconipresident of the Mondadori, he pronounces the words, while describing the new initiative launched yesterday by the group. And he declines the word “freedom” in a way that perhaps some might find surprising: raising the alarm about the growing success of extremist movements in Europewhile the uncertainties associated with voting in the countries increase United States. And in the background, a West that is increasingly questioning itself and its values. L’Italyhowever, is safe from any presumed democratic emergency, even if Marina Berlusconi has a point of view on civil rights that perhaps one would not expect: “Everyone must be free to make their own choices.”

A launch of a publishing house that could give rise to the usual question: it resembles its taking to the field…
«The answer is also always the same: no. Absolutely not, not today, nor in the future.” The name of the publishing house is the same as that of Silvio Berlusconi Editore which published some classics in the 90s, from Erasmus of Rotterdam to Karl Marx. «Today, however, a completely new publishing house is being born», he says «which will revolve around a single, great theme: talking about freedom has become terribly relevant again».

Freedom, an opposition campaign…
«But no, it is a reflection that goes far beyond the dialectic between government and opposition. I am referring to a broader problem, which concerns our civilization and our values. In almost 80 years of peace we have been fortunate enough to be able to consider freedom an acquired achievement. This is no longer the case. Two wars are tearing apart the borders of Europe, while a disturbing anti-Western front is coalescing, from Russia to China. But we also have to deal with an internal enemy, no less insidious.”

His pessimism is worrying…
«Well, the success of movements with anti-democratic ideas at the European elections cannot help but be alarming. Concerns about the consequences of the next vote in the United States are increasing.”

What are you referring to, Biden, Trump?
«The underlying problem is that our world, the West, is experiencing a terrible identity crisis. Look at what is happening in the squares, in the universities… There are protests in favor of Hamas, but behind it there is a profound contempt for the West. Look at that sort of autoimmune disease called cancel culture, according to which everything that our civilization has built must be thrown away. What is more worrying than a great culture that denies itself? How can we doubt that what we live in, despite its defects and contradictions, is currently the best of all possible worlds? The fact that all the societies that are discovering democracy and well-being are inspired by the Western model must mean something…”

OK, but many will agree that this publishing house can at least act as a laboratory of ideas for Forza Italia and for the right-wing government, to do politics…
«If you mean that we want to boost this or that party, choose a specific militancy, I answer a thousand times no. If by politics we mean attachment to values ​​such as freedom and democracy, that’s another matter.”

Yes but…
«More than many words, I think it is enough to mention the first titles identified by the professionals of the Mondadori group. We will debut in September with On leadership by Tony Blair and with two great classics such as Voltaire and Furet. Later we will have Ernesto Galli della Loggia and Walter Siti. We will also bring Alexander Baunov’s anti-Putinian manifesto to Italy. Does this sound like a Minculpop editorial program to you?”

It may not be militant, but it seems like a piece of the long march towards the conquest of cultural hegemony by conservatives.
«Neither the mission of the Mondadori group, nor of the new publishing house, which will have a limited selection of titles, but of unquestionable quality, is to aim for some form of cultural hegemony. Our job is to publish well-made books that meet the interest of readers and give voice to society’s needs.”

They all say so…
«We do it. Silvio Berlusconi Editore, like our other publishing houses, will enjoy maximum autonomy and will be a totally open laboratory of ideas: freedom can be described and defined in many different ways. We are all interested in them.”

I insist. His father was one of the most important politicians in the country’s history. The choice of his name inevitably gives this initiative a precise connotation.
«And what better name for a publishing house that wants to talk about freedom? My father always fought for freedom. It was the means and the end of all his actions. Everything he built, he built using the paths of freedom and achieving conquests that were nourished by freedom. As a politician and as an entrepreneur. Think of commercial TV, of what he represented in the growth of pluralism…”.

Commercial TV is one thing, a publishing house that bears its name is another…
«Then think about his way of being a publisher. Mondadori has been in my family for 33 years now, could anyone argue that we are not liberal publishers? Then, I know, there will always be those who will continue to ask us for blood tests… But for these gentlemen, opinions, naturally theirs, will always count more than facts.”

As a politician, his father did not always associate with champions of freedom. Putin, for example…
«My father was trying to make Putin’s Russia join the Western axis. He was a man of peace, who aimed at strengthening and even enlarging the West and democracy. This is why I find it unacceptable that someone compares him to today’s pro-Putinists, who despise them by the West and democracy. And in any case it also happened that my father and I had different opinions. But he always listened and respected my point of view, indeed he always pushed me to say everything I thought. Isn’t this a great lesson in freedom?”

Freedom that you, it seems to me, see as being put into doubt also by the European vote with this right-wing wave that in some countries like Germany is far right…
«I think that a very deep reflection needs to be done in Brussels. Behind the spread of certain anti-democratic sympathies there is also a growing intolerance, almost an anger, towards a Europe of too much control, of dirigisme, of bureaucracy. However, the answer certainly cannot be to close oneself within one’s own borders. On the contrary, we need a stronger and more cohesive Europe, capable of making people perceive all the benefits of true unity. Without ambiguity on values ​​such as freedom and democracy, starting with support for Ukraine. In short, Europe can be our salvation, or, be careful, our ruin.”

And the Italian right? Here too there are those who cry out for a democratic emergency…
«I really don’t see it. This government has always fully respected the rules of democracy and in foreign policy has kept the bar straight on pro-European and pro-Atlantic positions. Then, for goodness sake, there are also issues on which we can more or less agree…”.

Did we hear correctly? Less in agreement with the government on what? «Personally, for example, on civil rights. If we talk about abortion, end of life or LGBTQ rights, I feel more in tune with the common sense left. Because everyone must be free to choose. Here too, you see, we return to the basic question, the one on which I don’t think we can retreat an inch: the question of freedom.”

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