"We say to our friends in retirement: Do not make the mistake that you made at the last European elections," he says in the letter. "You must go and vote. It's someone of your own age and who loves you who's telling you himself: Silvio Berlusconi." Forza Italia took a drubbing in the European Parliament elections in May, coming third behind Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement. But Berlusconi, who famously owns two fluffy white poodles called Dudu and Dudina , has one final sweetener to persuade those older people who share his love of pets: "A free vet's appointment once a month for your four-legged friends".