Prodi backs Berlusconi on performance of presidency

By Martin Banks

Date: 18/12/03

ITALIAN premier Silvio Berlusconi received ringing endorsement of his presidency of the EU from an unexpected quarter this week - his old political foe Romano Prodi.

The European Commission chief leapt to Berlusconi's defence after the controversial media magnate's handling of the Union's presidency was condemned by political group leaders in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Socialist leader Enrique Barón Crespo blamed Berlusconi personally for the collapse of the Brussels summit, saying it had plunged the Union into a "fundamental crisis". And Graham Watson, the Liberal Democrat group leader in the Parliament, went even further - accusing Berlusconi of a catalogue of failures.

Speaking during a debate in Strasbourg on Italy's presidency, Watson said: "It is hard to escape the conclusion that this presidency has been a personal failure for Berlusconi." Referring to the Italian's pre-summit claim to have a deal on voting weights, he added: "The "piece of paper" in his pocket turned out to be a gelato-stained napkin with a few bad jokes scribbled on it.

"He came to the summit poorly prepared and ignored the warnings that holding back compromise proposals would produce this kind of stalemate.

"After the summit, Berlusconi said that, but for the IGC, his presidency would be remembered as "the most glorious of recent years", yet agreement on the growth initiative and the European agencies represent a meagre return on a presidency in which such high hopes were invested. While the Americans were digging Saddam Hussein out of a hole in Iraq our leaders were digging themselves into a hole in Brussels."

Watson, who was cheered loudly by fellow deputies at the end of his speech, said Berlusconi's stewardship had disappointed on various fronts, including a failure to uphold the rights of suspected terrorists detained in Guantanamo Bay and failure to criticize media bias in the Russian elections.

However, Prodi, who is widely tipped to challenge Berlusconi in the next Italian general election, praised his "strenuous" efforts, saying he had done a "sound" job.

"The presidency has carried the flame with a keen sense of responsibility for which the Commission is grateful," he said.

Support also came from Pat Cox, the president of the Parliament, who paid tribute to Berlusconi's "considerable and significant" achievement.

Berlusconi told MEPs that, despite the failure of the weekend summit, Italy had reached agreement on 82 subjects since June. He said: "The last six months have been been very intense . . . the hardest of my life. But, as we look back, I am not downbeat but optimistic for the future."

Meanwhile, Prodi made a thinly veiled attack on Spain and Poland for the "disappointing" summit.

The talks ignominiously collapsed after the two countries clung to the terms of the Nice Treaty, which awarded athem voting powers disproportionate to their populations.

Addressing MEPs on Tuesday, Prodi said: "The Convention [on the EU's future] did a good job, and the text of the constitutional treaty needed just a few amendments. The Convention's draft was intended to take us forward but some states have used it to take us backwards.

"Last week, the European integration project ground to a halt and we all missed a great chance."

However, the Italian added that with "time and patience", the "right solution" could still be found.

The President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, has praised the efforts of Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, during Italy's Presidency of the European Union which ends on 31 December 2003.