Confalonieri: “Meloni wanted Gianni Letta at the Colle, but he refused out of loyalty to Berlusconi”

Gianni Letta could have become President of the Republic, and it was Giorgia Meloni who had proposed him for the role. This is recounted by Fedele Confalonieri, president of MediaForEurope and a lifelong friend of Silvio Berlusconi, in an interview with Myrta Merlino which will be broadcast tonight at 9 pm on San Marino RTV, in the first episode of “Myrta Confidential” (Giuseppe Conte also features in the same episode). “I have a great deal of respect for Gianni Letta. He is an extraordinary person. There is one thing many people do not know: he turned down the chance to become President of the Republic. When Mattarella was re-elected, Meloni had put him forward for the role. He would have won hands down. But he did not do it so as not to upset Berlusconi. And that speaks volumes about his loyalty and devotion.” It was January 2022: Fratelli d’Italia was in opposition to the Draghi government, the centre-right was looking for a candidate for the Presidency, and Berlusconi had long harboured the ambition of taking the post himself. The matter was settled with the re-election of Sergio Mattarella.   

The most political part of the interview, however, concerns Ukraine, and takes a stance opposite to that of the government. “What’s missing today is diplomacy. People like Kissinger, true giants,” says Confalonieri. He then adds: “We are not in a position to continue funding Ukraine, simply because we cannot afford it. We should do everything we can to bring this war to an end, but there is no one in sight who could take the initiative, especially now that America is in the hands of a ‘half-mad’ man.” As for Berlusconi, he “certainly didn’t like Trump to begin with”, even though that was during his first term in office.

His assessment of Meloni is positive, with one reservation: “I like her, she’s good. The only thing is she’s too confrontational with the opposition. She gets into arguments about everything, but who cares, I say – you’re the Prime Minister!” Regarding Vannacci, Confalonieri recalls that Berlusconi “knew how to be both conciliatory and confrontational. He would discuss and talk to everyone; he certainly wouldn’t have ruled out Vannacci out of hand”.

The portrait of his friend is no saint’s image. Confalonieri admits he did not agree with his decision to enter the political fray, and recounts an episode involving Craxi: “When Bettino Craxi was about to go to Tunisia, having by then resigned himself to the situation, he told me that Silvio would not get beyond 8 per cent, a result that would only cause us harm. Instead, he pulled off a Napoleonic feat: in three months he secured over 21 per cent.” And he lists his flaws: “That little flaw of his – women – had become very pronounced. And then he’d set out saying ‘let’s bring about a liberal revolution’ but didn’t do it; he gave it up, delegating the ‘day-to-day’ running of the government to others”. He does, however, defend his foreign policy, the “diplomacy of the pat on the back”: “And just try giving Putin a pat on the back…”.

On the subject of Scalfari, who had described him as “the Caimano’s toothy mouth”, Confalonieri gets something off his chest: before “selling out” to De Benedetti, he explains, the founder of *Repubblica* had gone to Arcore, and Berlusconi “risked becoming Scalfari’s publisher, who then concocted a tailor-made version of Il Cavaliere: a fascist, a Freemason, a mafioso”.

The rest ranges from the Lega (“I used to support Bossi”; Salvini “doesn’t bother me because he’s a Milan fan”, but his Lega “is no longer Bossi’s”) to the heirs. Marina? “She likes politics, but no, I don’t think she’ll go into it”, whilst Pier Silvio “talks about politics at programme line-up presentations, but that’s as far as it goes”. On Milan, Confalonieri thinks that “Mario Calabresi might stand a chance”, but that a more left-wing candidate such as Pierfrancesco Majorino “would have an even better chance”, because “the city centre votes left”. On the electoral law, however: “When people talk about the electoral law, I turn the sound off”.