Word: berlusconis
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...host of the affair, one Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister whose tan out-glows even John Kerry’s, was having a pretty bad day. Rome was chosen not because any of Italy’s neighbors particularly like Berlusconi (quite the opposite is true), but so as to hark back to the epochal 1957 Rome Treaty, which established the European Economic Community and laid the path to the current...
...signing of the EU constitutional treaty—which still must be ratified by all 25 member countries—Berlusconi was forced to withdraw Rocco Buttiglione, his appointee to the European Commission (the executive body meant to guide the EU) amidst threats from the European Parliament (the main legislative body) to veto the entire incoming Commission. Buttiglione, a minister in the Berlusconi government who has close ties to the Catholic Church, had expressed conservative personal views about homosexuality, describing it as “a sin,” as well as about women’s role...
...Still, last week recalibrated the balance between Parliament and member states. For years national leaders have used Brussels appointments to solve domestic political problems. Buttiglione's appointment emerged after his party, the Union of Christian Democrats, threatened to leave Berlusconi's ruling coalition. In years past, such nominations have always received a weary pass from Parliament. This time - perhaps because more than half the M.E.P.s were first elected in June - they didn't. Greek Socialist Stavros Lambrinidis, vice chairman of the Civil Liberties Committee, says that its vote against Buttiglione created a healthy dynamic. "All the committees started focusing...
...While most nominees are distinguished and qualified, as many as six have drawn criticism. Now that Buttiglione is gone, national leaders will have to decide how much more recasting the Commission needs. Berlusconi, who is said to favor Foreign Minister Franco Frattini for Italy's slot, doesn't want Buttiglione to be the only casualty. Other possible candidates for replacement include the proposed Energy Commissioner, Hungarian Foreign Minister Lászlo Kovács, whose "professional competence" and "aptitude" were found inadequate by the relevant committee; the proposed Commissioner for Competition, Neelie Kroes of the Netherlands, whose extensive (and, until...
...stand firm - the European Parliament has made the most of its powers of approval. Now both institutions must turn to winning the attention and respect of the E.U. electorate at the start of more than a year of referendums on the Constitution. If they can't manage that, Berlusconi's second Rome ceremony will end up as a footnote to a failed Constitution...