By Sophie Arie
GuardianJanuary 30, 2003
Silvio Berlusconi is trying to play down fears that he supports George Bush's hawkish stance on Iraq, but his policy on the looming conflict is unclear, writes Sophie Arie
Ever since White House spokesman Ari Fleischer mentioned Italy among the European countries it expected to support a war on Iraq, Italy's prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has walked a transatlantic tightrope. This call for Italy, along with Spain and eastern European countries, to play the hawk alongside Britain and the United States, has left the Italian prime minister facing a clamour for peace from determined doves on the opposition left and the risk of further dividing European Union opinion on the war.
Yesterday, as he set out for meetings in London and Washington, the Italian prime minister described his mission as "the game of firmly placing our country in the world coalition for freedom and against terrorism". His foreign minister, Franco Frattini, was left to defend the government's decision to provide air bases, as well as airspace, for American warplanes to refuel in a future Iraq operation. Frattini was booed by anti-war protesters shouting, "Vote against the war" as he attempted to explain the decision to the senate.
Italian polls show that roughly 75% of the nation is against a war. And opposition leaders and national papers say that now France and Germany are opposing a war, Italy is jumping to America's command.
The conservative Corriere della Sera ran a front-page cartoon last weekend showing the prime minister with a gun, a grenade and a gas mask on his desk shouting "Pronto!" down the phone to George Bush - a pun on the Italian way of answering the phone which literally means "ready".
"Berlusconi is boycotting Europe for Bush, instead of working for peace," said Pecoraro Scanio, the leader of Italy's Green party. The prime minister attempted to assuage these fears, saying: "There's been no call to war. We were reminded that we are among their [America's] closest allies."
Both President Ciampi and Berlusconi have repeated the official line that force should only be used to disarm Iraq with prior UN authorisation. But for ordinary Italians, their country's policy on Iraq is far from clear. Italy has already pledged an alpine military force for service in Afghanistan, releasing American servicemen for action in the Gulf. And Berlusconi has hinted that when it comes to the crunch, Italy will fall in line with the US and Britain.
"We are in favour of peace," Berlusconi said in a television address on Monday, without referring specifically to Iraq. "But we cannot share responsibility for giving in to those who threaten our security, our liberty and our democracy." The media tycoon turned politician, who prizes the prospect of turning Italy into a European "protagonist", has insisted Europe must find a unified stance on Iraq. But he reportedly said earlier this week that it was "absolutely useless" to try to find a common European policy on the looming war.
"Being at heart a salesman, not a politician, our prime minister is inclined to humour people. He will always say what people want to hear," said Claudio Lodici, a professor of history at the American University in Rome. Public opinion weighs heavily on the image-conscious prime minister, all the more so as he battles to fend off corruption charges which could force him out of his job. This week, the country's supreme court dealt him a heavy blow rejecting his claim that judges trying him in Milan were biased.
Meanwhile, on his own doorstep, Pope John Paul II is making repeated calls for peace from the traditionally anti-war corridors of the Vatican. The Pope recently said a war in Iraq would be a "defeat for humanity" and rallied Buddhists, Sikhs, Zoroastrians and others to urge "believers" to work to avert a war.
Most Italians, Catholic or not, are inclined to agree. Though Italy has not seen the largest anti-war protests, leftwing campaigners proudly claim that almost 200,000 "peace" flags now hang from Italian balconies. Berlusconi now faces his toughest diplomatic challenge. During his stint last year as self-appointed foreign minister, he built ties with Britain, forging an alliance on labour reforms. France and Germany, however, accused him of being unclear on Italy's EU policy.
He has charmed some world leaders, including Vladimir Putin, even inviting the Russian president's teenage daughters to his sumptuous Sardinian villa last summer. But Germany's foreign minister, Joshka Fischer, has bracketed the Italian prime minister with extreme rightwing leaders such as France's Jean-Marie Le Pen and Austria's Jorg Haider. As Berlusconi reportedly told the Stampa daily newspaper: "It would have been better if our American friends had not drawn us into this dance."
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