By Philip Willan

A proposal by the mayor of Milan to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of Bettino Craxi by naming a street after him has set off a furious debate over the legacy of the discredited former Prime Minister.

 The row has generated particular controversy because of the similarities between Craxi and Silvio Berlusconi, his former friend and protege, and now Prime Minister of Italy himself.

Opponents who gathered in Milan to voice their disapproval said that the rehabilitation of Craxi was a tactic employed by Berlusconi’s ­supporters to discredit the magistrates who investigated both men for corruption. Craxi died in exile in Tunisia on ­January 19, 2000, on the run from Italian justice, which had convicted him on two counts of corruption and was pursuing him over a further four cases.

By then the charismatic politician who boosted the clout of the Socialist Party and provided the country with a period of unprecedented government stability in the mid-1980s had become a symbol of the “bribesville” corruption scandal; of a political kleptocracy for whom ­trousering bribes was second nature.

Craxi argued as much in parliament shortly before his fall, claiming the ­illegal funding of the political parties was a universally accepted system, and challenging any MPs who denied accepting bribes to stand up and be counted.

Just as Craxi’s admirers say he worked within the system, and that his ­failings should not be allowed to obscure his undoubted abilities as a statesman, so Berlusconi’s supporters claim he too – during his controversial career as an entrepreneur – worked within the accepted rules of an imperfect system and has been pursued by politically motivated magistrates since.

The destinies of the two men are indeed closely intertwined. Both were political innovators and effective communicators with an ability to inspire a filial devotion among their followers.Both were married men with a fondness for the fairer sex and a tendency to promote the careers of female favourites.

Craxi protected Berlusconi’s first steps as a TV entrepreneur, intervening as Prime Minister when a magistrate threatened to pull the plug on his national TV network. He was rewarded by Berlusconi with millions in illegal contributions to the Socialist Party. Both men were convicted of illegal party funding but saved on appeal when the statute of limitations timed out any punishment for the offence.

Antonio Di Pietro, leader of the opposition Italy of Values Party and a former anti-corruption magistrate, expressed indignation at the planned honour. “The difference between him and his associate and friend Berlusconi is that Craxi escaped justice by fleeing, while Berlusconi changed the laws in parliament so as to avoid being brought to trial or to extinguish the crimes he had committed,” Di Pietro said.

His view was supported by Paolo Ferrero, spokesman for the Federation of the Left, who said there had been a “shameful beatification” of Craxi by almost all the political parties. “It’s even more shameful that the person who benefited most from the misdeeds and embezzlements … should now be Prime Minister,” Ferrero said.

Gerardo D’Ambrosio, another former Milan magistrate, reminded Italians that the system of corruption over which Craxi presided left the country with a huge debt burden, the result of useless or overpriced public construction projects used to generate political bribes.

“Let’s not forget the damage this created – how our businesses didn’t invest in quality or technology because it was enough to pay the bribes to win the contracts,” D’Ambrosio said.

Craxi’s supporters retort that it is only right that the man who piloted Italy through the treacherous political waters of the cold war should be honoured as a statesman, a patriot and a great citizen.

He was, according to government spokesman Daniele Capezzone, “a modern, innovative leader who anticipated for Italy many of the aspects of Tony Blair’s great reformist era”.

Aldo Giannuli, a Milan-based historian who sees Craxi as a complex figure who achieved much by often underhand means, has no objection to the creation of a “Via Craxi”.

“It’s a way of recalling what happened, without declaring that someone was a saint,” Giannuli said.

Italy was full of streets and squares named after Aldo Moro, the Christian Democrat leader executed by the Red Brigades in 1978, he said. “Moro was a martyr of the Red Brigades but a terrific thief. He pocketed bribes just the same as Craxi, but I’m not suggesting his name should be removed because of it.”

Giannuli described Craxi as an improviser who broke the rules. “He sometimes acted as a bandit, but I don’t accept the notion that Craxi was a bandit and everyone else was a paragon of virtue.”