Word: berlusconis
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...other entreaties from member states, including Spain and Germany. Those Socialist-led governments, while never enamored of Barroso, would have much preferred to dodge a bothersome train wreck over the new Commission. But Buttiglione's comments about gays and women, and the fact that he had been nominated by Berlusconi, amounted to a cause that Greens, Socialists and a majority of Liberals were willing to go to the mat for. "This week was the birth of a truly European Socialist faction," said Martin Schulz, the German leader of the Socialist group. (Berlusconi may now regret having compared Schulz...
...Silvio Berlusconi lobbied long and hard for this hour of glory. It was in Rome in 1957, after all, that six European leaders signed the founding treaty of the European Economic Community - the forerunner of today's European Union - so the Italian Prime Minister wanted the leaders of the 25 member states to return to the Eternal City to sign the European Constitution. On Friday they came, and Berlusconi made the most of it. With famed filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli directing the live television coverage, Berlusconi led his European colleagues through a carefully choreographed ceremony at Rome's historic Campidoglio city...
...rank in importance alongside the 1957 ceremony. But last week, Rome seemed like a strange place to sign a treaty clarifying relations among E.U. institutions (it has yet to be ratified by any member state and faces long odds in some), because those relations have been upended thanks to Berlusconi's nomination of conservative Catholic Rocco Buttiglione as Italy's member of the European Commission, the E.U.'s executive body. Commission President?designate José Manuel Dur?o Barroso had tapped Buttiglione for the Justice, Freedom and Security post, which includes responsibility for antidiscrimination and sexual equality measures as well...
...Manuel Durão Barroso faces an uproar in the European Parliament that could cost him his job before it's even slated to begin on Nov. 1. Barroso's problem starts with his designated Commissioner for Justice, Security and Freedom, Rocco Buttiglione, formerly Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi's Minister for European Affairs. When he testified on Oct. 5 before the Parliament, Buttiglione mentioned that he considers homosexuality a sin and holds the "traditional" view that marriage is meant to give a "woman the right to have children and the protection of a man." These and other comments estranged...
...African coast. Almost 1,800 arrived there just last week. But each year hundreds die in attempted crossings when their rickety fishing boats sink in the Mediterranean swells. Italy has begun an unprecedented crackdown on the new arrivals, who have become a hot political issue for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. In the past, immigrants were typically given up to 60 days while the government checked their identities and assessed their status; now, most are flown back to Tripoli after a brief medical check. "It's quite scary," says opposition Senator Tana de Zulueta, who was in Lampedusa last week. "There...