Italy’s foreign minister and Forza Italia (FI) leader, Anotnio Tajani, flew to Milan on Friday for an extended session with Marina and Pier Silvio Berlusconi that had been the subject of intense speculation. He emerged with his position apparently secure.
Antonio Tajani, Italy’s foreign minister and one of two deputy prime ministers in the Meloni government, spent four hours on Friday in talks with the two eldest children of Forza Italia‘s late founder Silvio Berlusconi at the offices of the family’s media group Mediaset, near Milan.
Across the table were Marina Berlusconi, 60 and her brother Pier Silvio, 56. Also present was Gianni Letta, Silvio Berlusconi’s 90-year-old former right-hand man and longtime senior advisor. Letta remains one of the most astute political operators in the Italian centre-right, and his attendance signalled that this was not a courtesy call.
The Berlusconi heirs, who continue to bankroll Forza Italia, questioned Tajani on a range of party matters, including its strategic direction, the replacement of FI’s House whip, and the likely date for the party congress. The question of possible conflicts of interest was conspicuously set aside.
Tajani retains his position
The meeting had been anticipated with considerable unease inside Forza Italia. Rumours had been circulating in recent weeks that the Berlusconi family, unhappy with the party’s stagnant polling figures, might use the encounter to lean on the 72-year-old Tajani to step down. Forza Italia has struggled to capitalise on its position in the Meloni coalition and has seen little movement in the polls.
Tajani has led the party since Berlusconi’s death in June 2023, stepping into a role that carries the near-impossible burden of maintaining the loyalty of a political movement that was always as much a personality cult as a party. The party has found it difficult to articulate a distinct voice within the governing coalition.
However, many may see Tajani as the quiet yet more efficient Deputy PM.
Forza Italia moved quickly after the meeting to project unity and confidence. A statement issued by the party said the heirs had expressed full confidence in Tajani and that there was a “united vision for the party’s relaunch.” The meeting, the statement added, had been “a moment of great friendship and cordiality.” Sources close to the Berlusconi family told ANSA it had been “very positive.”
