He is the man Italians need right now. Undoubtedly, he is one of the most influential politicians that Italy and Europe ever had in recent times. At the age of 71, Conservative leader Silvio Berlusconi regained command in Italy on Monday after compelling decisive victories in both Houses of Parliament. Fourteen years after succeeding Lamberto Dini as Prime Minister, unlike other political leaders in Europe, Mr Berlusconi was motivated and captivating enough to return to power and being elected Prime Minister for the third time in Italian history. What Mr Berlusconi achieved was not simple in political terms.

He opposed challenges to his leadership by his conservative associates, outlived conflicts of interest, charges and criminal trials. Every politician in the world should learn a lesson from Mr Berlusconi's last campaign.

During his election expedition, the founder leader of Forza Italia projected himself differently in relation to what he did in previous elections. He acknowledged his mistakes and made sure not to repeat them like, for example, ruling out sending new troops to Iraq.

Prior to this election he launched the new political centre-right party, People of Freedom, and amalgamated Forza Italia, National Alliance and other liberal and smaller parties and paved his way to a remarkable triumph. One can rightly say that he has managed to revolutionise the Italian parliamentary scenario.

Mr Berlusconi's bloc succeeded in winning over 45 per cent of the vote. So this wasn't just a simple victory but a huge conquest for the "new" man in control. But behind Mr Berlusconi's electoral win is another reality.

The new Italian Prime Minister won't have it easy. There are huge problems awaiting Mr Berlusconi, ranging from the environmental situation of Naples (indicated by Mr Berlusconi himself as a top priority) to improving the country's economy that has been notoriously underperforming when compared to the rest of the eurozone for years.

Mr Berlusconi exploited the lack of satisfaction over the nation's stagnating economy and also the unpopularity of former Prime Minister Romano Prodi. The leader of the centre-right party already declared that he would be open to work with the opposition. He guaranteed to the Italian voters he would fight tax evasion, reform justice, reduce public debt and also cut the number of Cabinet ministers to 12.

Mr Berlusconi is known for his friendship with the United States. He not only calls George W. Bush a friend but declares that their policies and priorities are quite similar in various aspects.

With Mr Berlusconi back into office, it's rather evident that Italy will be improving its relationship with the US as the outgoing government, led by Dr Prodi had a cooler relationship with Washington.

Mr Berlusconi has also affirmed himself as one of Israel's closest friends in Europe and, next Monday, he will be making his first foreign trip as Prime Minister of Italy by visiting Israel to mark the Jewish state's 60th anniversary.

But, in reality, what were the factors that led to a victory for the centre-right party?

The centre-left coalition headed by Dr Prodi hung on to power with an unstable coalition of 13 parties and the truth was that the government could accomplish little. On the right, everything that Mr Berlusconi may have failed to achieve and do in his five years in office (2001-2006) was quickly forgotten. The electorate were seeing Dr Prodi as a fiscal Dracula, sucking ever more taxes out of the population in order to balance the budget in order to bring Italy to comply with eurozone rules. Dr Prodi was out of favour and he had to call an early election.

His successor on the left, Walter Veltroni, did his very best in this campaign. He projected himself as a new face in politics (besides being a former mayor of Rome) and battled both Mr Berlusconi and Dr Prodi himself. In fact, Dr Prodi was allowed to appear in Mr Veltroni's campaign only once as he was more identified as an object of shame.

Funnily enough in Italy, like Malta, the left parties were using the key phrase "a new beginning", which was also punished in the Italian general election like no other political force in the country.

Throughout this campaign, Mr Berlusconi proved to his constituents that he is the ideal person to lead Italy as a Prime Minister with a spirited and intense campaign. Actually, it was too difficult for Mr Veltroni and the left parties to stop Mr Berlusconi's political resurrection.

Moreover, it seems quite evident that the trend in today's Europe is to have a government led by a centre-right party. In a month, the European centre-right and the European Popular Party in the European Parliament marked the victory of two great leaders in European politics: Silvio Berlusconi as Italian Prime Minister and Lawrence Gonzi as Maltese Prime Minister. What's next?

Mr Casa is a Nationalist member in the European Parliament and a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament.

david.casa@europarl.europa.eu

www.davidcasa.eu