Contract with the Italians

The Contract with the Italians (Italian: Contratto con gli Italiani) is a document presented and signed by Silvio Berlusconi on May 8, 2001 during the television program Porta a Porta conducted by Bruno Vespa. With it Silvio Berlusconi, head of the opposition at the time, committed himself, in the event of electoral victory, to enact various reforms summarized in 5 points, and in case of failure to achieve at least 4 points, not to run again subsequent elections.

The Contract with the Italians was not invented by Silvio Berlusconi, but was copied outright by his advisor Luigi Crespi from the Newt Gingrich's Contract with America introduced six weeks before the 1994 US Congressional election.

Contract with the Italians,

between Silvio Berlusconi, born September 29, 1936 in Milan, leader of Forza Italia and Casa delle Libertà, in agreement with all the allies of the coalition, and the Italian citizens, it is hereby agreed as follows.

Silvio Berlusconi, in the event of electoral victory of Casa delle Libertà, commits himself as Prime Minister to achieve the following objectives in five years:

In the event that at the end of 5 years of government at least 4 of 5 of such goals were not achieved, Silvio Berlusconi formally agrees not to resubmit its nomination to the next parliamentary elections.

In witness,

The contract will be rendered valid and operative May 13, 2001 by the vote of Italian electors.

A great debate has emerged about these points have been respected or not.

Silvio Berlusconi has repeatedly publicly affirmed that four of the five have been respected. The first point, namely the lowering of the rates would not have been implemented because of resistance within the center-right coalition.

According to sociologist Luca Ricolfi, when asked if Berlusconi had honored the contract with the Italians, he replied: "No. He did not have to stand for election if he was a man of honor. He had only a promise kept completely out of five, that of pensions. On average, the promises of Berlusconi were kept only 60%. "

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