Silvio Berlusconi antics no longer funny in Brussels

Brussels  - For a growing numberof foreign observers, Silvio Berlusconi is simply a clown who cannot be trusted.

The prime minister's antics and widely publicised sex scandals have so seriously damaged Italy's standing in Europe that it is no longer viewed as one of the bloc's major powers, experts in Brussels said Thursday.

"Berlusconi is deeply disrespected by the left, but he is also seen as awkward and unpredictable by his conservative colleagues. As a result, Italy's influence has become much weaker, weaker than Poland's," said Piotr Kaczynski, an analyst at the Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Studies.

At a recent conference in Brussels, for instance, several panelists listed Britain, France, Germany and Poland as the European Union's "big four," despite Poland's economy being a fifth the size of Italy.

"Italy's economy is about as large as that of France or Britain. But on the international dossiers that matter - climate change, financial regulation and relations with Russia - Italy is not a leading voice," said David Rennie, The Economist magazine's Brussels correspondent.

"The tragedy is that a very large member state is punching well below its weight."

Berlusconi, who turns 73 this month, has often bragged about his ability to shape world events.

His claims include convincing Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin - whom he calls "a personal friend" - to stop last year's war in Georgia, and sealing a deal with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the appointment of Anders Fogh Rasmussen as NATO's new secretary general.

Such assertions are met with a condescending smile by those familiar with both events.

On September 1, during a visit to Gdansk, Poland, Berlusconi ruffled many EU feathers by threatening to boycott the bloc over perceived criticisms of Italy by European Commissionspokespeople.

The threat came after a commission spokesman told journalists that Brussels was seeking clarifications from Rome over reports that Italy had sent a boat full of would-be immigrants back to Libya.

Few in Brussels took the threat seriously, however.

"Why should I react, when even the president of the European Commission did not," Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker told the German Press Agency dpa Thursday at a summit in Brussels, when asked about Berlusconi's threat.

Seasoned observers, meanwhile, note that Berlusconi has frequently made such threats, only to back down when pressed.

As French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after an October meeting in Paris with Czech then-prime minister Mirek Topolanek: "Silvio always says no, and in the end he always says yes. He'll never dare jump off the European train."

A fresh example of Berlusconi's impotence in Brussels came at Thursday's EU summit, where fellow EU leaders overruled Italian opposition to the idea of quantifying the financial cost of fighting climate change.

Italy's shrivelling influence under Berlusconi has also cost it dearly in terms of obtaining top EU posts.

The new presidency of the European Parliament, for instance, went to a Pole, Jerzy Buzek, after Italy failed to rally enough support around its own candidate, Mario Mauro.

Berlusconi's description in 2003 of Martin Schulz, a German who leads the socialist grouping in Parliament, as a Nazi concentration camp guard, is unlikely to have helped him entice many friends in the Strasbourg assembly.

The EU's institutions are currently in the process of being renewed, with the pending Lisbon Treaty set to introduce a number of new posts.

But few of the top seats are expected to go to Italy.

Despite being fully qualified for the job, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini is not seen as the leading candidate to succeed Javier Solana of Spain as the EU's top foreign-policy official. EU diplomats are still fuming at Berlusconi's decision a year ago to block a common European statement condemning Russia's attack on Georgia.

Meanwhile, Berlusconi's scepticisms about the need to fight climate change will likely rule out Italy in contention for the much- prized post of climate action commissioner.

The repeated snubs of Italy come even as Italian officials working in Brussels are considered among the best. "The problem is that we are witnessing a total disconnect between Italian officials working in Brussels and the government in Rome," Kaczynski said.

Meanwhile, Berlusconi's alleged involvement with prostitutes and minors continued to grab theattention of the international media. It was, perhaps, no coincidence that the matter received a full page in Thursday's edition of the Financial Times, the gospel of Europe's decision-makers.

"This is not about the sex. People here in Brussels are grown- ups," Rennie said. "But Europe stands for fundamental values."

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