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Kojiro Sasaki
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Berlusconi government sees plot to hurt Italy's image
A man walks in a street full of garbage in Naples November 22, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Stefano Renna
ROME | Fri Nov 26, 2010 11:08am EST
ROME (Reuters) - Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government vowed on Friday to defend the country's reputation and interests from what it said was a scheme designed "to hurt Italy's image on the international stage." A government statement cited global media coverage of a number of high profile stories in recent days as "symptoms of a strategy" to damage Italy's international standing.
They included a probe involving defense group Finmeccanica, pictures of heaps of uncollected garbage in Naples and crumbling archaeological ruins in the ancient city of Pompeii as well as the planned release of U.S. classified files by WikiLeaks. Speaking to reporters on Friday, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that among the documents to be released by the whistleblowing website "there could be judgments and facts which could hit Italy as an international actor."
Berlusconi's center-right government has been struggling for months as a series of corruption scandals, a sluggish economy and bitter infighting have prepared the ground for a confidence vote on December 14 which could trigger early elections. The statement, issued after a cabinet meeting, said Frattini had informed the cabinet about "delicate matters" and the need to act "firmly and with determination to defend the national image and protect the country's economic and political interests."
"This aim was unanimously shared by the cabinet," said the cryptic statement, which did not elaborate on who might be behind the alleged plot. An aide to Frattini said there was no precise evidence of a conspiracy but that negative media coverage of Italy and its government in the international press appeared to be influenced by "the interests of foreign countries," without giving details.
Berlusconi's popularity has fallen to a record low, with a garbage crisis in Naples and the collapse of the 2,000-year-old "House of the Gladiators" in the ruins of ancient Pompeii earlier this month adding to his government's woes. Separately, Rome prosecutors are investigating a unit of Finmeccanica, Europe's seventh-biggest aerospace and defense group by market value, over alleged slush funds. Finmeccanica has denied any wrongdoing, saying it never created any such funds in Italy or abroad. Berlusconi told reporters after the cabinet meeting that Finmeccanica was a "fantastic asset" and called any allegations against the group "suicidal."
(Reporting by Silvia Aloisi and Roberto Landucci; editing by Myra MacDonald)
