July 8, 2009. Copyright 2009, Graphic News. All rights reserved

World stage wary of more Berlusconi blunders
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, July 8, Graphic News:  Perhaps only Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi could be preparing to host world leaders at the G8 meeting fresh from allegations that he flew in prostitutes for poolside parties at his Sardinian villa. But while many Italians seem untroubled by the antics of their brazen leader, others fear his talent for world-class blunders could sidetrack the crucial summit.

As leaders of the world's richest nations gather in earthquake-battered L'Aquila for a summit which aid organizations say must focus on development and Africa, many will be hoping that there are no aftershocks of another kind. Media tycoon Berlusconi may have a vice-like hold over the Italian press but the world's commentators are harder to please.

Going on past form, there are grounds to worry: shortly before the European elections in June, for example, the prime minister was quoted as saying that Milan now has so many immigrants it "looks like an African city". It was pure Berlusconi: aimed at the voters who support his crackdown on immigration and displaying, at best, racial insensitivity.

Who could forget the way in which the bronzed ex-cruise ship entertainer described U.S. President Barack Obama as "young, handsome and suntanned", and later said a key difference between them was that "I am paler". Then there were his comments in 2006 that left Beijing fuming, when he said the Chinese "boiled babies" under Mao Zedong.

He also made headlines telling German MEP Martin Schulz that he would be perfect to play a kapo (prison guard) in a film about Nazi concentration camps, and making the cuckold horn gesture behind the Spanish foreign minister at an EU summit. At the G20 in Britain inApril his buffoonery at the photo shoot even earned him a rebuke from the Queen. For the gaffe-prone Italian, proximity to foreign leaders and VIPs is too often fraught with pitfalls.

But he is hardly the model of political correctness with his compatriots either, telling homeless victims of the April earthquake in L'Aquila they should look on their plight as a "camping weekend". And the energetic 72-year-old has come unstuck when boosting his playboy image: he told Denmark's prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen that he was so good looking he should consider an affair with his wife, Veronica Lario.

She is finally divorcing him over reports of a dalliance with a young lingerie model but the Italian public has been extraordinarily forgiving of their thrice-elected leader, despite corruption and fraud allegations that have dogged his entire career. Of course, it's helped that soccer-loving Berlusconi has moved the legal goalposts to stay above the law.

After the last G8 summit hosted by Italy ended in violent clashes between with police and protesters in Genoa in 2001, Berlusconi knows now he has to impress. But the makeshift facilities in L'Aquila ought to be the least of his worries. The world wants evidence that the G8 will uphold its aid pledge to Africa, an area where Italy is dragging its feet.

Could this be the moment for a noble stand by Il Cavaliere? It seems unlikely.
/ENDS

Sources:
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1165103/Berlusconi-blunders-saying-paler-Obama.html
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/01/silvio-berlusconi-quotations
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/29/silvio-berlusconi-g8-summit-allegations
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6605079.ece