Doubts cloud Berlusconi EU debut

[Tahoeman]

Doubts cloud Berlusconi EU debut




Fonte: BBC news

Italy has taken over the rotating presidency of the EU amid concerns about Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's suitability for the job.
Mr Berlusconi took over the EU reins at midnight, hours after a Milan court suspended his trial on charges of bribery under a controversial new immunity law.

Mr Berlusconi is expected to face hostile questioning when he speaks to the European parliament on Wednesday.

As EU president, Berlusconi will not in the end be judged on the basis of his run-ins with the judiciary or his conflicts of interest

Corriere della Sera


Italian press alarmed by foreign criticism
"This is now our president, a man whose hand we would not willingly shake," wrote the Berliner Zeitung on Tuesday.

The French daily Liberation described Mr Berlusconi as a "danger to Europe", while Le Monde voiced concern that his strongly pro-American position put him at odds with some other European leaders.

Italy's programme

On Monday, the billionaire businessman said he would aim to restore good relations between Europe and the US, which were damaged by the Iraq war.

"The West must be united," he told France's Europe 1 radio.

"One can be very European... and also be a friend of the biggest democracy in the world, the United States."

Italy's other priorities for the next six months include:

Opening an inter-governmental conference on the new EU constitution in October
Promoting peace in the Middle East, possibly by holding a peace conference in Sicily
A "New Deal" to boost big infrastructure projects in Europe financed by European Investment Bank bonds
Immigration - Italy supports the idea of immigrant holding centres outside the EU
Pensions - Mr Berlusconi has proposed a common approach enshrined in an EU-wide treaty
Some members of the European parliament are reported to be concerned by his pro-American stance and his call for the EU to be further enlarged to include Turkey, Russia and Israel.

Demonstration

Europe is trembling at the thought of Silvio

To Vima newspaper, Greece
They are also expected to criticise the immunity law hastily passed by the Italian parliament to save Mr Berlusconi the embarrassment of court appearances during Italy's EU presidency.

Green members of the European parliament are planning a protest in which they will hoist banners proclaiming: "The law is equal for all."

His premiership has raised serious questions about Italian democracy

Expressen newspaper, Sweden
Mr Berlusconi will also give a news conference on Wednesday with the president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, one of his biggest rivals in Italian politics.

Mr Prodi said on Tuesday that he and Mr Berlusconi - whom he once compared to Goebbels - would work together during the Italian presidency.

Prodi relaxed




Analysis: Possible problems of the Italian presidency
"It will be a co-operative presidency. We should work together. There is no problem," he said.

In his radio interview on Monday, Mr Berlusconi outraged the Italian left by accusing the country's "leftist" press of inspiring the foreign media criticism of him.

"This is a terrible beginning," said former left-wing Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema.

"To export our internal rows in such a crude fashion will not win back credibility for our country."

Most of the Italian press on Tuesday was critical of the foreign media assault, saying that the Italian presidency should be judged by its results.

A rare voice of support for Mr Berlusconi came from The Times, which said Mr Berlusconi could inject much-needed energy into the EU.

"The EU is all too full of grey politicos," it said.

"The constitutional quarrels ahead call for persuasive leadership - and the presentational skills required to convince bored and cynical eletorates that the result really will make Europe more comprehensible, and more accountable."

[Tahoeman]

Italian press objects to foreign criticism



On the day Italy assumes the EU presidency, the country's newspapers are dominated by the controversy over Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's suitability for European leadership.

Many Italian commentators are worried that the widespread criticism from abroad is already overshadowing Italy's presidency and the tasks it faces over the next six months.

Many express concern over what they perceive as anti-Italian prejudice in some of the recent foreign coverage.

Mr Berlusconi on Monday blamed what he described as the "leftist" Italian press for inspiring the negative comment in other European media outlets over the past few days.

As EU president Berlusconi will not in the end be judged on the basis of his run-ins with the judiciary or his conflicts of interest

Corriere della Sera
A front-page commentary in the left-leaning La Repubblica dismisses that argument, but it launches a scathing attack on German news magazine Der Spiegel, the latest issue of which runs a cover dubbing the Italian premier "The Godfather".

Such a portrayal "is an offence to Italy", not just to its prime minister, it says, accusing the German magazine of "long-running and undeniable anti-Italian prejudice".

The centrist daily Corriere della Sera condemns the "mistrust and sarcasm" with which, it says, some of the international press has greeted Italy's assumption of the EU presidency.

"As president of the European Union Silvio Berlusconi will not in the end be judged on the basis of his run-ins with the judiciary or his conflicts of interest," the paper says.

"He will be weighed and judged as a manager of consensus, as a mediator and patient promoter of proposals that will aid the future of the EU," it adds.

Realism

It is as though Italians needed to apologise to Europeans for having elected Berlusconi

Heinz-Joachim Fischer in Corriere della Sera
Writing in the same paper, the Rome correspondent of the conservative German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung also calls for a halt to what he terms "anti-Italian prejudice" in Europe's press.

"The British and the Germans above all, but even the French and Spanish, are competing in claiming the high moral ground," Heinz-Joachim Fischer writes.

"It is as though", he writes, "the Italians needed to apologise to Europeans for having elected Berlusconi."

The centrist La Stampa meanwhile runs a front-page cartoon showing Mr Berlusconi going to his European Calvary carrying a cross marked "Italian press" and "foreign press".

A front-page commentary in the same paper pleads for a note of realism in what it thinks is an overheated debate.

Polemics are all very well, but what the Union needs is a "normal" term of presidency that will get the job done, the commentary says.

This is the sixth time Rome has held the presidency, it continues, and its past record of achievement should not be forgotten in the controversies over the current incumbent