Newsgroup: italia.trieste.discussioni
Titolo: cavaliere gaffe...

  Press & publishing  |  Special report: Berlusconi  |  Television 
Europe stunned by Fawlty Towers gaffe 
Nazi jibe leaves governments dreading Berlusconi's EU term 
Ian Black in Brussels and Sophie Arie in Rome
Friday July 4, 2003
The Guardian 
Silvio Berlusconi's infamous Nazi jibe reverberated across Europe
yesterday as governments pondered gloomily how they will get through the
next six months of EU business under his mercurial presidency. 
The Italian prime minister's stewardship of the union faces a new test
today with a meeting in Rome with his fellow-countryman and bitter rival,
Romano Prodi, the European Commission president. 
Mr Prodi refused to comment last night, though his spokesman agreed under
furious questioning in Brussels that there had been a "very serious
incident." 
He looked ashen-faced in the European parliament in Strasbourg on
Wednesday when the billionaire media magnate and prime minister rounded on
German MEP Martin Schulz and suggested he play a guard in a film about
Nazi concentration camps. It was a Fawlty Towers moment, mentioning the
war in the most inappropriate context imaginable - the symbolic site of
European reconciliation and integration. 
Pat Cox, the Irish president of the parliament, turned in shock to the
Italian leader and said: "Silvio, what the fuck have you done?" according
to the Rome daily La Repubblica. Mr Berlusconi beamed broadly, though
everyone else was appalled. 
Few were openly urging forgiveness and forgetfulness yesterday, though
most EU governments seemed resigned to moving on. 
Joschka Fischer, the German foreign minister, said an apology would go a
long way. Anna Lindh, his Swedish colleague, was blunter, arguing that if
the union already had a full-time president instead of rotating stints, as
Tony Blair wants, it would have been spared Mr Berlusconi. "Unfortunately,
he has six months in the chair ahead of him," she said. 
The British government went for public discretion, hoping the row could be
quickly defused. Privately, though, there was deep dismay, if little
surprise. "The guy just doesn't have any of the disciplines of normal
politicians," said a senior official. "Italians like him, they vote for
him en masse. I think he's embarrassing, silly and grotesque." 
The Netherlands and Luxembourg governments were openly critical. 
But Mr Cox's spokesman said: "The EU is more important than a single
incident or single individual. We have more important business." 
Many had been dreading the start of the Italian presidency, fearing Mr
Berlusconi's gift of the gaffe would complicate a crowded agenda which
includes sensitive negotiations on the EU constitution, boosting sluggish
economic growth and healing the scars of the Iraq war. But few could have
imagined such a sensationally stormy and damaging start. 
The hope now is that Italy's professional diplomats and civil servants
will be able to keep things flowing smoothly - and that their prime
minister will keep quiet. 
The biggest challenge will be the inter-governmental conference on drawing
up a new EU treaty. But it is hard to imagine Mr Berlusconi playing the
role of his Danish colleague, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, in brokering a final
enlargement deal with 10 new member states last year. 
"It has been a bad start but I think he has got the opportunity to recover
and I think he needs to recover, given that it will be under the Italian
presidency that we go into the intergovernmental conference," said Gisela
Stuart, the German born Labour MP and delegate to the Brussels convention. 
But the sheer insensitivity of the Strasbourg remarks will not easily go
away. Robin Cook, former foreign secretary and president of the Party of
European Socialists, said: "The whole point of the European ideal is to
get away from crude national stereotyping. I am appalled that a
president-in-office of the EU should cause such offence and revive
conflicts which the rest of us long to put behind us." 
Mr Berlusconi himself was playing down the significance of his "joke,"
arguing that the Italian left had collaborated with Mr Schulz to provoke
him. "It was adequately prepared by the opposition," he told journalists. 
While the incident caused outrage across Europe, Italy's conservative
newspapers detected a leftwing conspiracy and argued that the prime
minister had been insulted as much, if not more, than the German MEP. 
Mr Berlusconi insisted he had shown restraint by not reacting to
"provocation and serious offensive comments", from other MEPs, calling him
"mafioso, thief, godfather." 
It was a familiar line. Since being elected in 2001, he has systematically
defended himself against criticism over his conflict of interests, his
corruption trial and his politics with the response that he is victim of a
communist plot. 
Umberto Bossi, the Northern League leader who sparked controversy for
suggesting coastguards fire on illegal immigrant boats, emerged as the
prime minister's most stalwart supporter. 
In his attempts to defuse the crisis with Germany Mr Berlusconi managed to
cause offence to Italy's Jewish community, explaining that Holocaust jokes
had been "doing the rounds" for years because Italians know how to laugh
about "that kind of tragedy". 
Italians had worried that the presidency, rather than help the country
shine on the international stage, could bring humiliation. "As Italians,
we are ashamed," said Alfredo Pecoraro Scanio, leader of the Green party.
"The Berlusconi bomb has started to upset European institutions. It is a
serious blow for Italy's credibility." 
Mr Berlusconi's deputy, Gianfranco Fini, leader of the post-fascist
National Alliance, made clear that he felt this time the Italian
billionaire had gone too far. 
"No accusation, however factious, can justify the epithet of Nazi
commander for a political opponent," he said.
Papers horrified - except for his own 
Italy
· "Yesterday can be considered the official date of the beginning of the
decline of Il Cavaliere. But the result is extremely bitter for our
country, which is paying an unjust and disproportionate price for
Berlusconi's errors and personality"
La Repubblica
· "A joke can ruin everything. He should not have opened the way for
endless poisonous polemics with a joke that was so twisted in its irony
that it was incomprehensible"
La Stampa 
· "Berlusconi did well to react to the insolent man who insulted him, the
Italian government, its ministers and all of us. He did excellently, in
his own way, with his own style and in his own time."
"Berlusconi should not give in to the pressures that will surely come.
Maybe Schulz is not a Kapo, but he is a villain. And villains deserve not
only irony but contempt"
Il Giornale (owned by the Berlusconi family)
France 
· "Berlusconi, flanked by the vice-president of the National Alliance,
Gianfranco Fini, had been listening patiently to the litany of MEPs'
interventions - taking notes, shrugging off sometimes violent attacks by
Greens and Communists, even smiling to himself at certain comments ...
Then, turning to Martin Schulz, he slipped up"
Libération 
Spain
· "The Italian prime minister has not respected the basic rules of the
democratic system (or, indeed, the basic rules of diplomacy or good
manners) in his own country. We could hardly have expected his behaviour
would be any different in the rotating presidency of the European council
..
"Silvio Berlusconi is the anomaly that Italy has been enduring because it
has not been able to breathe new life into its political and judicial
systems. Since Tuesday, the day he took over the presidency, it is now all
of Europe which will have to endure - for six months - this indefensible
anomaly"
El Avui 
Germany 
· "So he's got off to a good start. With his debut in Strasbourg, the
irritable Italian prime minister Berlusconi lost control and made a
comparison that is foolish and improper, and beyond the pale of political
rhetoric, even if it was all meant to be ironic. 
"This is an inglorious business. And it is regrettable because the real
business of the Italian EU presidency is pushed into the background. 
"Not all of that business is compelling, but much is correct and needs to
be addressed swiftly - the strengthening of Europe and the improvement of
the relationship with America"
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 
· "The Italian head of government would like to be regarded as a godfather
for Europe, but it is a disgrace that he will represent the EU for the
coming six months. There has seldom been so much prejudice before an EU
presidency. Now the prejudice seems to have been justified. 
"He appeared choleric, unchecked and completely unsuitable for the EU
leadership position. 
"To suggest that the German Social Democrat MEP Martin Schulz could be a
concentration camp guard cannot be dismissed by Berlusconi as irony. It is
an unacceptable disparagement of a democrat.
"Berlusconi's reaction is proof of his flawed understanding of democracy.
Should this man represent the EU?"
Die Welt
 
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 Nazi jibe leaves governments dreading Berlusconi's EU term
<taio tuto, che xe longo>
what business is it with Trieste?
-- 
Elisabetta  Marcovich
Trieste

 what business is it with Trieste?
il mona di Ladrusconi fa fare brutta figura a tutta Italia. Trieste-Trst,
purtroppo, si trova in Italia. Fosse ancora sotto l'Augusto Imperatore oggi
di sicuro saremmo in un'altra situazione ed in un Paese più serio.
FederiKo

 di sicuro saremmo in un'altra situazione ed in un Paese piů serio.
con Haider??? :-))
o  povero Franz Josef dovrebbe avere 150 anni o giů di lě.
purtroppo c'č stato il "ribalton" e l'errore di FJ č stato di mettersi con
la Germania.
-- 
Elisabetta Marcovich

.
Ecco la traduzione della gaffe raccolte dalla CNN: 
GIUGNO del 2003 -- "un cittadino è uguale ad un altro (secondo la legge)
ma forse questo (egli stesso) è un po' più uguale degli altri, dato che il
50 per cento degli italiani gli hanno dato la responsabilità di governare
il paese, '' - detto durante l’apparizione al processo di corruzione a
Milano. 
"hanno perso una buona occasione per stare zitti, il '' - detto
riferendosi ai francesi ed alla loro critica della sua decisione di non
incontrare i leader palestinesi durante il recente viaggio in Israele. 
MAGGIO 2003 -- "ho una barca a vela, ma in due anni ci sono stato soltanto
la famiglia a casa. E non vado alla mia casa nelle Bermude da due o tre
anni. E lo stesso per la mia casa a Portofino... La mia vita è cambiata.
La qualità è peggiorata. Che lavoro disumano. -- da un'intervista al New
York Times, descrivendo gli svantaggi del suo “lavoro”.
"Ritengo che se lasciassi la vita politica ora, l’Italia cadrebbe nelle
mani dei comunisti... Questi sono veri comunisti... Sono gli stessi uomini
che hanno sostenuto Pol Pot per anni e tutti i dittatori e i regimi
comunisti nel mondo. – stessa intervista. 
DICEMBRE 2002 -- "I più furbi troveranno certamente un secondo lavoro,
forse non dichiarato, '' - detto, consigliando agli operai in
licenziamento della Fiat di Termini Imerese di cercare un’occupazione sul
mercato nero. 
OTTOBRE del 2002 -- "Rasmussen è non soltanto un grande collega, lui è
inoltre il più bel primo ministro in Europa,'' - detto della sua
controparte danese, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, ad una conferenza.
“E’ così bello che sto pensando di presentarlo a mia moglie, '' - ha
aggiunto, ridendo. 
DICEMBRE del 2001 -- "Parma è sinonimo di buona cucina. Il Finns neppure
non conosce che cosa è il prosciutto, '' - detto, durante un summit
europeo. La Finlandia e l'Italia erano entrambe per l’istituzione di una
nuova authority per la sicurezza alimentare nella CEE. 
SETTEMBRE del 2001 -- "dovremmo essere coscienti della superiorità della
nostra civiltà, basata su di un sistema di valori che ha dato alla gente
la prosperità diffusa in quei paesi che la abbracciano ed il rispetto di
garanzie per i diritti dell'uomo e religione, '' - detto due settimane
dopo l’11 settembre. 
"questo rispetto certamente non esiste nei paesi islamici, '' detto ai
giornalisti italiani a Berlino. 
CAMPAGNA ELETTORALE 2001 -- "ho pochi capelli perché il mio cervello è
così grande che spinge (i capelli) fuori.''
"mi dispiace di aver detto che i comunisti mangiano i bambini. Ma se
desiderate, posso organizzare un conferenza in cui dimostrerò che i
comunisti realmente hanno mangiato i bambini e fatto cose ancora peggiori
'' - detto ad un congresso liberale.
Durante un talk show Berlusconi girato verso il conduttore, un vecchio
amico e gli ha chiesto di sentire l'odore del suo profumo: "Che profumo
pensi che sia?'' e rispondendosi: "è l'odore della santità. 
