{"id":466333,"date":"2026-09-29T19:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T17:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/09\/29\/il-90-anni-di-berlusconi-al-parlamento-ue-metsola-un-europeista-tajani-ci-ha-lasciato-una-bussola\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T19:30:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T17:30:05","slug":"berlusconis-90th-birthday-in-the-european-parliament-metsola-a-pro-european-tajani-he-has-left-us-a-compass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/09\/29\/berlusconis-90th-birthday-in-the-european-parliament-metsola-a-pro-european-tajani-he-has-left-us-a-compass\/","title":{"rendered":"Berlusconi\u2019s 90th birthday in the European Parliament. Metsola: \u201cA pro-European.\u201d Tajani: \u201cHe has left us a compass\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 \u201cA man who left his mark on Italian and European political history.\u201d <\/strong>With these words, <\/strong>the European Parliament’s President, Roberta Metsola<\/strong>, paid tribute to Silvio Berlusconi during the event \u201cSilvio Berlusconi. 90 years: an Italian story\u201d, organised today (29 September) by the Italian delegation of Forza Italia to the European Parliament, in the presence of the party\u2019s national secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani, and presented by MEP Salvatore De Meo. The 90th anniversary of the former Prime Minister\u2019s birth provided an opportunity to reflect on his role in Italian and European politics. <\/p>\n

Metsola highlighted Berlusconi\u2019s connection with Europe and its values. \u201cHe understood the Italians\u2019 desire to be represented by those who believe in human dignity, freedom, responsibility, justice, and solidarity \u2013 by those who believe in Italy and in Europe,\u201d said the President of the European Parliament. \u201cDefending these values has always required courage,\u201d<\/strong> she added, linking Berlusconi\u2019s political legacy to the Union\u2019s current challenges, from security to industrial transition and artificial intelligence. <\/p>\n

In his speech, Tajani, on the other hand, emphasised the centrality of freedom in the former prime minister\u2019s political vision. \u201cMan is born free. The state comes after us. The state has a duty to defend and guarantee human freedom,\u201d<\/strong> said the Deputy Prime Minister, recalling how Berlusconi had chosen to join the European People\u2019s Party because, according to Tajani, it represented a force capable of placing \u201cfreedom, solidarity, subsidiarity, and the social market economy\u201d at the centre. <\/p>\n

For Tajani, Berlusconi\u2019s vision of Europe also went beyond the purely bureaucratic dimension. \u201cHe had a lofty vision of Europe, as a place where Europeans live, a place that must be a bastion of freedom, where every person must be able to realise their dreams,\u201d he said. \u201cBerlusconi gave us a compass,\u201d<\/strong>  concluded the Deputy Prime Minister, citing Western identity, Europeanism, and the transatlantic bond as some of the key elements of his political legacy. <\/p>\n

The EPP Group leader in the European Parliament, Manfred Weber<\/strong>, also recalled Berlusconi as a figure capable of combining a strong Italian identity with the European dimension. In his speech, he referred in particular to Berlusconi\u2019s entry into the European People\u2019s Party in 1999, describing it as a decisive moment for the European political family. \u201cStrong Italian pride,\u201d<\/strong>  Weber emphasised, \u201calways\u201d accompanied by a commitment to common European values: freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. <\/p>\n

Finally, Weber also spoke of his political style, highlighting Berlusconi\u2019s ability to communicate in clear, accessible language and to engage with others without imposing his own views. An approach which, according to the EPP leader, also reflected his experience as an entrepreneur: \u201cHe never saw the major risks or problems; he always saw the possibilities; he always saw the positive side.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 \u201cA man who left his mark on Italian and European political history.\u201d With these words, the European Parliament’s President, Roberta Metsola, paid tribute to Silvio Berlusconi during the event \u201cSilvio Berlusconi. 90 years: an Italian story\u201d, organised today (29 September) by the Italian delegation of Forza Italia to the European Parliament, in the presence of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7896,"featured_media":466315,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25712,25774],"tags":[26005,35993,35994,26238,25759,29034],"class_list":["post-466333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news","category-in-brief","tag-antonio-tajani-en-2","tag-atlantista","tag-europeista","tag-manfred-weber-en-2","tag-roberta-metsolaat","tag-silvio-berlusconi-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7896"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466333"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":466334,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466333\/revisions\/466334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}