By Giselda Vagnoni
ROME (Reuters) – Marina Berlusconi, the daughter of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi whose family are still the main financial backers of his powerful political party, praised the right-wing Italian government but said she does not plan to run for office herself.
Looking at the U.S. presidential election she said it would be difficult for her to choose between Republican Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, as candidates.
“If I had to vote today I would be in trouble. I fear that the U.S. is destined for a long season of divisions and contrasts,” she told journalists at an event in Rome late on Wednesday.
The 58-year-old entrepreneur is the eldest heir of the late Italian media tycoon who founded the conservative Forza Italia party in 1994 and dominated Italy’s political landscape until his death last year.
Forza Italia is currently part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government, with its leader Antonio Tajani serving as deputy prime minister and foreign affairs minister.
Marina, who along with her brother Pier Silvio manages the family’s Fininvest business empire, said neither she nor her brother were seeking an active role in politics.
‘TRUMP IS NOT LIKE MY FATHER’
The Fininvest president made headlines last year when she criticized Italy’s windfall tax on banks, underlining divisions over the issue in the coalition government. The original measure was eventually shelved.
Berlusconi made clear that she broadly appreciated the way Meloni, in power since 2022, was handling Italy’s strained public accounts and its foreign policy.
Former president Trump, who is seeking re-election next month, has been compared to the late Berlusconi as a tycoon turned politician and for his outspoken personality.
Marina rejected such a comparison saying that while her father was a “true liberal”, Trump’s ideas are “based on many -isms: nationalism, extremism, protectionism, isolationism.”
“I have always been pro-Republican, but many of Trump’s statements leave me perplexed,” she added referring to what the Republican candidate said about the possibility of the U.S. leaving NATO and his protectionist positions on trade.
(Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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