Rome, August 05: The daughter of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi criticizes her scandal-hit father, saying that politicians should have moral values.
In an apparent dig at her father, Barbara Berlusconi told the Vanity Fair magazine on Wednesday that she was amazed at the alleged relationship between her father and 18-year-old model Noemi Letizia.
She also said that politicians ought to uphold, in private, the values they promote in public life.
“Political representatives who are called to govern well, make society prosper, are also held to safeguard the values they express, possibly raise them,” the 25-year-old told the weekly.
“So I don’t believe a politician can allow a distinction between his public and private life,” she added.
Barbara’s comments are another dent to Berlusconi’s image, which has been marred by his obsession with young models, female politicians and hedonistic parties.
Since the Letizia scandal — which prompted his wife Veronica Lario to seek a divorce over his womanizing — Berlusconi has also been fending off accusations of cavorting with escorts who were paid to attend his parties.
However, he has admits that he is ‘no saint’.
The revelations have helped push down the 72-year-old leader’s popularity by 10 percent in June, but the media tycoon still enjoys 49 percent approval ratings and a majority in both houses of parliament.
Barbara is the eldest of three children by the premier’s estranged wife, Veronica. Berlusconi’s two children from his first marriage hold prominent positions in his business empire.
They have rarely spoken publicly; however, they defended their father when the scandal first exploded in May.
—-Agencies