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We are publishing the words that the Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi - project The Azeri Times
Starting with the previous issue we publish quotes of the prominent politicians, diplomats and people of the arts who lived in different centuries and epochs.
In this issue, we are publishing the words that the Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Saturday, July 19, 2003
www.time.com
- You created problems at the European Parliament by jokingly referring to a German member as "perfect" for the role of A Nazi prison guard. Have you ever thought to adopt a more cautious approach?
- I’m not a traditional politician, and I have a sense of humor. I’ll try to soften it and become boring, maybe even very boring, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to.
Monday, 7 September 2009
guardian.co.uk
I, sometimes, like everyone, am a sinner but the type of moralistic justice being waged against me is ... simply scandalous
www.thesun.co.uk
17 Mar 2011
"Even though I’m a bit of a rascal - 33 girls in two months is too many, even for a 30-year-old."
10 memorable gaffes
The Telegraph
1. On Mussolini: "Mussolini never killed anyone. Mussolini used to send people on vacation in internal exile." The fascist regime’s internment camps were ‘‘like holiday camps’’.
2. On Italian secretaries, in remarks made at the New York stock exchange:
"Italy is now a great country to invest in... today we have fewer communists and those who are still there deny having been one. Another reason to invest in Italy is that we have beautiful secretaries... superb girls."
3. To a German MEP at the start of Italy’s presidency of the European Union in 2003:
"I know that in Italy there is a man producing a film on Nazi concentration camps - I shall put you forward for the role of Kapo (a guard chosen from among the prisoners) - you would be perfect."
He later claimed he had been joking and had been thinking of a character from the popular TV series Hogan’s Heroes, set in a Second World War POW camp.
4. On left-wing voters during the 2006 campaign:
"I trust the intelligence of the Italian people too much to think that there are so many pricks around who would vote against their own best interests."
5. In the wake of the September 11 2001 attacks on the United States:
"We must be aware of the superiority of our civilisation, a system that has guaranteed well-being, respect for human rights and - in contrast with Islamic countries - respect for religious and political rights, a system that has as its value understanding of diversity and tolerance...
6. On a proposal to base an EU food standards agency in Finland, rather than the Italian city of Parma:
"Parma is synonymous with good cuisine. The Finns don’t even know what prosciutto is. I’ve been through the Finnish diet and I know what it means."
7. On his career as a politician:
"I don’t need to go into office for the power. I have houses all over the world, stupendous boats... beautiful airplanes, a beautiful wife, a beautiful family... I am making a sacrifice."
8. During a group photo of EU leaders in 2002 he made the Italian horned ‘cuckold’ gesture behind a Spanish minister.
9. Before the 2006 election, which he lost, he said any Italian who didn’t vote for him would be a ‘‘dickhead’’.
10. On his equal opportunities minister, ex-men’s magazine model Mara Carfagna. "I’d go anywhere with you, even to a desert island. If I weren’t already married, I would marry you straight away." His wife, Veronica Lario, reacted by writing a letter published on the front page of La Repubblica newspaper calling for a public apology. She duly received one.
