Berlusconi confounds critics

Berlusconi stuns climate summit with policy shift
BY MATTIA GRENADO

ROME – Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was rushed to hospital late today and treated for confetti inhalation and minor hug-related injuries sustained at the hero’s welcome he received in Rome on return from the climate summit. Grateful Italians overwhelmed security at Fiumicino airport to greet the formerly self-centered leader and cheer his virtuoso performance on the world stage.

Beppe Grillo, formerly one of Berlusconi’s most outspoken detractors, immediately announced his new show would be called  “Miracles Happen.”

“I don’t know what part of him to kiss,” said Grillo. “His big bald head for coming up with the plan to create jobs in Italy around solar power, the firm hand that made the deal with Chrysler to provide small energy-efficient Fiats to the U.S. market, or those ‘palle’ he needed to face down the British opposition to a tough line on emissions.”

Silvio Berlusconi’s transformation from tycoon to statesman could not have been more surprising. Famed for gaffes that evoked howls of laughter everywhere except in Italy, where nobody heard about them because he owned the media, Berlusconi was not rated a serious player at the talks. But that all ended when he delivered an epic speech that won the day, including his surprise announcement that he would divest all holdings in Mediaset and Fininvest and instead support renewable energy and efficiency research.

“I promised a million Italian jobs, and we will have a million Italian jobs, even if I have to take personal responsibility to pay for them myself,” he announced. Sales of Austin Minis soared briefly, until a spokesperson clarified that the Prime Minister was actually talking about employment, and not planning to do multiple remakes of the 1969 Michael Caine film.

Also at the airport to greet Italy’s leader was former Prime Minister Romano Prodi, who Berlusconi sought out in the crowd. “This guy, I love this guy!” said Berlusconi. “His decision to discount taxes by 55 percent on businesses that work on energy efficiency and renewables was part of what got me thinking. More than 30,000 small and medium green companies, mostly in the North, are making profits thanks to that 55 percent tax break.

Berlusconi stunned the Copenhagen Climate Summit in a breathtaking act of statesmanship that few expected from the 73-year-old leader. Speeches by prime ministers at climate summits are traditionally rhetorical, with little substance and less impact on the actual proceedings. But the insurance magnate/media mogul/prime minister ignored that tradition.  He challenged the E.U. leaders to take tough action on climate change. “Drop these ridiculous excuses that it’s impossible! That it’s not in your narrow national interests! It IS possible! Our survival is at stake! What more compelling interest is there than that?”

His speech ranged from the direct – “enough solar energy falls on the surface of the earth every 40 minutes to meet 100 percent of the entire world’s energy needs for a full year” – to the analytical – “a recent Milan Bocconi University study predicted a quarter million jobs would be created” by the need to reach tough E.U. renewable energy targets by 2020. He added, with a grin and a wink at the cameras, that Italy’s share of those jobs would outstrip the number of workers currently employed by Fiat.

Berlusconi then abandoned protocol by turning on U.K. leader Gordon Brown with a stinging attack about the need for European leadership to stop runaway climate change. At this moment, French President Nicolas Sarkozy shocked the audience when he stood up to say that Berlusconi was making sense.

Soon other European leaders, such as Germany’s Angela Merkel, rallied behind Berlusconi and his peers at the Copenhagen Climate Summit unanimously voted to adopt 90 percent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Photo credit: /STEFANO MONTESI