Editing Silvio Berlusconi (section)

=== Berlusconi II Cabinet ===
{{main|Berlusconi II Cabinet}}
[[File:Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush and Silvio Berlusconi.jpg|thumb|Berlusconi with US president [[George W. Bush]] and former presidents [[Bill Clinton]] and [[George H. W. Bush]]]]
Opposition parties claim Berlusconi was not able to achieve the goals he promised in his ''Contratto con gli Italiani''. Some of his partners in government, especially the [[National Alliance (Italy)|National Alliance]] and the [[Union of Christian and Centre Democrats]], admitted the Government fell short of the promises made in the agreement, attributing the failure to an unforeseeable downturn in global economic conditions. Berlusconi himself consistently asserted that he achieved all the goals of the agreement, and said his Government provided ''un miracolo continuo'' (a continuous miracle) that made all 'earlier governments pale' (by comparison). He attributed the widespread failure to recognise these achievements to a campaign of mystification and vilification in the print media, asserting that 85% of newspapers were opposed to him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.repubblica.it/2004/e/sezioni/politica/campagna3/goveber/goveber.html|title=Berlusconi: 'Successi straordinari Contro di me l'85% dei giornali', La Repubblica, 24 maggio 2004|work=la Repubblica|date=24 May 2004 |access-date=17 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022060704/http://www.repubblica.it/2004/e/sezioni/politica/campagna3/goveber/goveber.html |archive-date=22 October 2013}}</ref> Luca Ricolfi, an independent analyst, held that Berlusconi had managed to deliver only one promise out of five, the one concerning minimum pension rates. According to Ricolfi, the other four promises were not honoured, in particular the undertakings on tax simplification and crime reduction.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ricolfi |first=Luca |title=Tempo scaduto. Il "Contratto con gli italiani" alla prova dei fatti |publisher=Il Mulino |year=2006 |isbn=978-88-15-10888-3}}</ref>