Premier denies affair with teenager
(ANSA) - Rome, May 28 - Premier Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday denied any wrongdoing with an aspiring 18-year-old showgirl and said he would have had to resign if he had lied about the affair. Speaking during a meeting with the President of the central Abruzzo region, Gianni Chiodi, the premier said he had ''absolutely not'' had ''any steamy or more than steamy dealings with teenagers''. Berlusconi said he would have resigned ''immediately'' if he had lied or had been involved with a teenager.
''I have sworn it on the life of my children,'' said the 72-year-old premier who has two children with his first wife and three with his second wife, Veronica Lario. Lario said earlier this month she was asking for a divorce because her husband was consorting with ''minors'' and was ''not well''. ''I have also said that if this were all true, I would have to resign immediately,'' the premier said. At the start of the month, Berlusconi went on a state-run RAI television talk show to deny his wife's accusations.
At times tense and irked, the premier said reports that he had cavorted with young girls were ''lies'', explaining there was nothing ''spicy'' about his attendance at the birthday party of an 18-year-old because he had a long friendship with her family. In an interview with the Turin daily La Stampa, the premier said there might ''even be grounds for defamation'' against Lario after she told another newspaper, La Repubblica, that she ''(could) not stay with a man who consorted with minors''. ''Those insinuations about me consorting with minors are unreadable,'' Berlusconi told La Stampa, saying he would have been ''mad'' to attend the birthday party of Noemi Letizia, daughter of a Naples municipal clerk, ''if there had been anything sordid behind it''. CHILDREN STICK TO FATHER'S SIDE. Marina Berlusconi, the premier's oldest child, staunchly defended her father in an interview published by Milan's Corriere della Sera. ''Angry? I'm disgusted, furious.
This is really too much,'' said the 42-year-old who is chairman of the Berlusconi family's Fininvest empire and head of Italy's largest publishing group Mondadori. She singled out Democratic Party opposition leader Dario Franceschini who on Wednesday asked Italians if they would want their children raised by Berlusconi. ''Mr Franceschini has no right to insult Silvio Berlusconi.
Who does he think he is? Is he aware how serious his statement was?'' ''''I'm proud of my father as a man and as a parent.
I sincerely wish Franceschini's children to have a father like mine''. Referring to Letizia, the premier's daughter said ''it's a mountain of lies built on nothing''. She told the daily that the divorce storm and the ongoing row over Noemi has proven to be a ''difficult period'' for the family but had actually reinforced ties among her brothers and sisters. ''We feel even more united''. Pier Silvio Berlusconi, deputy chairman of family TV empire Mediaset and the premier's first son also defended his father. ''Berlusconi's values are mine: love for work, generosity, steadfastness and that respect for others that Franceschini shows he is unaware of''. Luigi, the premier's son with Lario, also stepped into the fray to show support. ''I'm happy and proud of how I was raised and the values instilled in me by my family.
I don't understand how politics should turn to judging Silvio Berlusconi as a father.
They're on separate planes and should never be mingled,'' said Luigi Berlusconi. Pierferdinando Casini, leader of the centrist opposition UDC Party, also rapped Franceschini on Thursday, saying he had gone too far. ''I think Franceschini should apologise not only to Berlusconi and his children but to all Italians because this can't be the new politics or a serious alternative to Berlusconi and his government''. ''When men are blinded by hatred against someone or something they always end up hurting others,'' he added. Nevertheless, the premier has come under fire from the Catholic Church which has expressed dismay over the divorce spat and reports that he planned to field former starlets for the June elections for the European Parliament. ''Leaders should largely be judged on their achievements, the Catholic daily Avvenire wrote recently, ''but the 'stuff' of a leader, his style and the values with which he concretely fills his life, are not inconsequential.
They cannot be''. It called for ''a premier who, with sobriety, is able to be the mirror of his country's soul''. photo:Berlusconi and Franceschini.
At times tense and irked, the premier said reports that he had cavorted with young girls were ''lies'', explaining there was nothing ''spicy'' about his attendance at the birthday party of an 18-year-old because he had a long friendship with her family. In an interview with the Turin daily La Stampa, the premier said there might ''even be grounds for defamation'' against Lario after she told another newspaper, La Repubblica, that she ''(could) not stay with a man who consorted with minors''. ''Those insinuations about me consorting with minors are unreadable,'' Berlusconi told La Stampa, saying he would have been ''mad'' to attend the birthday party of Noemi Letizia, daughter of a Naples municipal clerk, ''if there had been anything sordid behind it''. CHILDREN STICK TO FATHER'S SIDE. Marina Berlusconi, the premier's oldest child, staunchly defended her father in an interview published by Milan's Corriere della Sera. ''Angry? I'm disgusted, furious.
This is really too much,'' said the 42-year-old who is chairman of the Berlusconi family's Fininvest empire and head of Italy's largest publishing group Mondadori. She singled out Democratic Party opposition leader Dario Franceschini who on Wednesday asked Italians if they would want their children raised by Berlusconi. ''Mr Franceschini has no right to insult Silvio Berlusconi.
Who does he think he is? Is he aware how serious his statement was?'' ''''I'm proud of my father as a man and as a parent.
I sincerely wish Franceschini's children to have a father like mine''. Referring to Letizia, the premier's daughter said ''it's a mountain of lies built on nothing''. She told the daily that the divorce storm and the ongoing row over Noemi has proven to be a ''difficult period'' for the family but had actually reinforced ties among her brothers and sisters. ''We feel even more united''. Pier Silvio Berlusconi, deputy chairman of family TV empire Mediaset and the premier's first son also defended his father. ''Berlusconi's values are mine: love for work, generosity, steadfastness and that respect for others that Franceschini shows he is unaware of''. Luigi, the premier's son with Lario, also stepped into the fray to show support. ''I'm happy and proud of how I was raised and the values instilled in me by my family.
I don't understand how politics should turn to judging Silvio Berlusconi as a father.
They're on separate planes and should never be mingled,'' said Luigi Berlusconi. Pierferdinando Casini, leader of the centrist opposition UDC Party, also rapped Franceschini on Thursday, saying he had gone too far. ''I think Franceschini should apologise not only to Berlusconi and his children but to all Italians because this can't be the new politics or a serious alternative to Berlusconi and his government''. ''When men are blinded by hatred against someone or something they always end up hurting others,'' he added. Nevertheless, the premier has come under fire from the Catholic Church which has expressed dismay over the divorce spat and reports that he planned to field former starlets for the June elections for the European Parliament. ''Leaders should largely be judged on their achievements, the Catholic daily Avvenire wrote recently, ''but the 'stuff' of a leader, his style and the values with which he concretely fills his life, are not inconsequential.
They cannot be''. It called for ''a premier who, with sobriety, is able to be the mirror of his country's soul''. photo:Berlusconi and Franceschini.