“Angela Merkel and I decided to summon Berlusconi to convince him to take new measures to try to calm the current storm”, trying to convince him “to leave the leadership of the government”. Nicolas Sarkozy writes it in the book ‘Le temps des combats’ (The time of battles) released today in France by Frayard publishing house remembering the G20 in Cannes in November 2011. In some excerpts from the ex-president’s autobiography published by Corriere della Sera, Sarkozy explains that he is “saddened by the death of Berlusconi” and then reconstructs events, starting on April 26, 2011, when he arrives in Rome for a Franco-Italian bilateral meeting.
“Our relations had begun to deteriorate – he recalls -. Berlusconi was becoming a caricature of himself. The brilliant businessman, the politician with indomitable energy, was nothing more than a distant memory. The sad episode of ‘Bunga-Bunga’ announced an inglorious end…”. Returning to the Cannes summit, Sarkozy recalled that he dealt with the Greek collapse, but, “at this moment it was about saving the third largest economy in the Eurozone: Italy”. And that’s why, together with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, “we decided to call on Berlusconi to convince him to take further measures to try to calm the current storm.” The Italian Prime Minister “began to explain that we had not understood that there were no risks in the international markets, because the Italian public debt was in the hands of Italians. He wanted to create more debt to be assumed only by his compatriots. All of this was quite delusional “. “There was a moment of great tension between us – he writes in the book – when I had to explain to him that he was the problem with Italy! Angela and I were convinced that he had become the risk premium that the country had pay the underwriters of Treasury bonds. Honestly, we thought that the situation would have been less dramatic without him and his pathetic attitude… The time was serious. We had to sacrifice Papandreou (Greek Prime Minister at the time) and Berlusconi to try to contain the tsunami … The markets understood that we wanted Berlusconi’s resignation. It was cruel, but necessary”.
Finally, it all comes back. “Sarkozy’s memoirs attest to the interference of other European countries in the development of Italian politics. Sarkozy in this case confessed, under circumstances that we knew well. The former French president just forgot to confess one of the main reasons for the attack on Berlusconi and his government », wrote Gianfranco Rotondi, then minister for the implementation of the program, on Facebook. «During that period – he reconstructs – our Government approved a so-called ‘save the banks’ decree, which in reality saved savers in the event of default by Italian banks. The English government privately requested that our decree be issued after a similar one from the British government, as a matter of prestige. And so it was. Germany and France were obliged to adopt a similar attitude, but they knew that Berlusconi was not risking anything, because the Italian banking system was quite healthy, while the German one, for example, presented worrying criticisms. From that moment on, Merkel and Sarkozy became beasts with Berlusconi. If we want to rebuild those years, we can do it, but completely».
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
