"The National Mourning for Berlusconi is inappropriate and misplaced. [...] I think that national mourning should be reserved for personalities who have united the country and not for those who have divided it, for people who have distinguished themselves for particular achievements, for personalities of art and culture, for those who have sacrificed their lives for the country. But I find national mourning inappropriate for a Prime Minister who was much loved but who was also capable of not being loved by others. And who was divisive on fundamental issues, such as the sense of institutions, respect for the Constitution, respect for women, the country's image around the world. Why the national mourning? Why should all the country's institutions have a flag at half-mast and Parliament be stopped? [...] We are in a phase of sanctification, carried out by its TV stations but also by RAI, which is not good for the country and does not correspond to the truth."
Rosy Bindi

January 1, 1970