Bad News Tempers Italian’s Big Day

ROME -- He might have thought his legal troubles were behind him, but Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday assumed the presidency of the European Union under a lingering cloud of suspicion.

On the eve of Italy’s ascension to the presidency of the 15-nation alliance, an Italian court agreed to hear the constitutionality of an immunity law that had liberated Berlusconi from an ongoing corruption trial. If the court rules the law unconstitutional, the prosecution of Berlusconi could be renewed.

Until the immunity law was passed last month by a Parliament controlled by Berlusconi’s right-of-center coalition, the prime minister was standing trial on charges of bribing a judge in the 1980s to influence a corporate takeover. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Greece handed the six-month, rotating EU presidency to Italy on Tuesday amid an avalanche of negative press all over the continent.

Spain’s left-leaning El Pais newspaper asked on the cover of its weekend supplement, “Can This Man Govern Europe?” The Athens daily To Vima said, “Europe is trembling at the thought of Silvio.” And in Germany, Tuesday’s front page of the leading newsmagazine Der Spiegel showed Berlusconi in a finely tailored black suit sitting on a golden throne, with the headline “Silvio Berlusconi. The Godfather. Now Even in All Europe.”

Most of the criticism of Berlusconi, Italy’s richest man and one of the world’s most powerful billionaires, stems from what is widely seen as a conflict of interest between his business empire and the running of government. He owns or controls most electronic media and a wide array of enterprises, from advertising to insurance to food conglomerates.

He has also been criticized for what some see as pushing through legislation tailored to his own interests and legal standing, a charge he denies. Berlusconi says he is the victim of a communist conspiracy and a highly politicized leftist judiciary.

This EU term is an important one. The bloc of rich nations will consider the admission of 10 more countries and hopes to complete the final text of a landmark constitution.

Other issues on the agenda include economic reforms, illegal immigration and repairing divisions -- within Europe and with Washington -- over the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

Berlusconi was one of President Bush’s most fervent supporters in the war.

During a debate Tuesday in the Italian Parliament over Berlusconi’s proposed program for the EU presidency, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini urged fellow citizens to rally around their besieged prime minister at such a high-profile moment.

“This is a historic moment for Italy,” Frattini said. “It is the political and moral duty of everyone, absolutely everyone, to support the Italian presidency ... to obtain successful results.”

Berlusconi received other words of support Tuesday, including an editorial in the Times of London -- and in Israel. He has suggested that Israel become part of the EU, and he delighted Israeli officials recently when he visited Jerusalem and, in contravention to EU policy, refused to meet with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

It was “an act of courage rare among European leaders,” Israel’s ambassador to Italy, Ehud Gol, wrote in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper and, simultaneously, in Italy’s Corriere della Sera.

De Cristofaro reported from Rome and Wilkinson from Jerusalem.