Happy Birthday! Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi was born in Milan in 1936 and has a degree in law. In 1962 he began his career as a property developer.

He rapidly became Italy's leading developer of residential and large-scale retail real estate (Milano 2, Milano 3, Il Girasole). In 1980 he launched Canale 5, Italy's first national commercial television network, which was followed by Italia 1 in 1982 and Rete 4 in 1984.

The success of commercial television led to the development of other initiatives under the umbrella of the Fininvest holding company, which was founded in 1978. He went on to develop commercial television in other countries in Europe: in France with La Cinq (1986), in Germany with Telefunf (1987) and in Spain with Telecinco (1989).

With the acquisition of Mondadori, he became Italy's most important publisher of books and magazines. Through Mediolanum and Programma Italia, the Fininvest Group built up a solid position in banking, insurance and financial services.

In 1986 he became Chairman of A.C. Milan which, under his leadership, went on to win the National League seven times, the Champion's League four times, the World Club Championship twice, as well as various other international trophies.

On the 26th January 1994 he resigned all of his positions in Fininvest. He founded the Forza Italia movement and the coalition known as Polo delle Libertà e del Buongoverno. In the general election of March 1994 he obtained a majority of the votes and became Prime Minister.

In June 1999 he was re-elected Member of the European Parliament with three million votes. From 1996 to 2001 he was leader of the opposition in Parliament. On May 13, 2001 he won the general election as the leader of the "Casa delle Libertà " coalition with 18 and a half million votes.