Berlusconi Says Ready To Stand As Candidate To European Parliament

ROME (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th January, 2019) Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is also the leader of the center-right Forza Italia party, said Thursday he would run in May's European Parliament election.

"I decided to run in the European elections, so that my voice would be heard in Europe, which should change," Berlusconi said in Sardinia, where he went to campaign on the eve of local administrative elections.

Berlusconi elaborated that he intended to "stop the current government, where representatives of the Five Star Movement are sitting and being run by people without experience and competence."

"At my beautiful age, I decided to go to Europe out of sense of responsibility. Europe lacks deep thoughts about the future of the world. I think with my knowledge, experience, ability to convince I can play an important role and make it clear to European citizens that we risk moving away from Western values," he said, not excluding that he will lead the election list from Forward Italy Party.

In September, speaking at the event of Forward Italy party, Berlusconi did not exclude the possibility of being nominated as a candidate in the European Parliament elections. In his speech, he criticized the current government, declaring that it, and especially the Five Star Movement, were enemies of freedom.

In May, the Milan Court issued a decision on the rehabilitation of Berlusconi, who was sentenced to four years in prison in a high-profile case of financial fraud in his Mediaset group by the Italian Supreme Court in 2013. The court's decision overturned previous judicial decisions, according to which the former prime minister could not hold public office for six years after the verdict was passed, as well as run for elections.