Brussels/Strasbourg, 17/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Italian people have just given you a significant victory. Each sees that your part was decisive and I would like, personally, to very warmly congratulate you", wrote the President of the European Parliament, Nicole Fontaine, in a telegram sent to Silvio Berlusconi. Also adding: All my wishes for, under you leadership, Italy to gain the new impetus that you proposed and for it to continue bringing its full contribution to the European building process and the promotion of the common values that unite our States and peoples'.
Mariotto Segni, MEP for the "Patto Segni" and member of the Union for a Europe of Nations group, wrote to his colleagues to draw their attention to two problems, following the victory of Silvio Berlusconi. Firstly, the place of the Lega Nord. According to Mr Segni, the perplexities over it are "legitimate and founded", as, after having lengthily supported the separatist cause, it continues to follow an anti-European line, sometimes xenophobic, with a ridged break with the South and the less developed regions of Italy. On the other hand, according to him there is no reason to doubt the correct position of Mr Berlusconi's other allies, AN and CCD-CDU. Mr Segni notably presents the "immediate problem": of the extraordinary concentration of media power, especially television, in the hands of Berlusconi, while noting that the "duopoly" that exists at present (with three state channels and three belonging to Berlusconi) risks transforming itself, politically, into a monopoly, given the strong conditioning that the government is able to exert on State television. This is unacceptable in a democratic country, asserts Mr Segni, who notes that, following its tumultuous transition, Italy is not prepared to face this problem, but also what has happened in Italy can happen in any country. Mr Segni, who hopes that Italy rapidly resolves this issue by concretely ensuring the pluralism information, adds: this is a European problem (…) which does not concern only one country, but (…) one of the fundamental values of the European Union. We have had the time to think over the issue of knowing whether Europe can take initiatives (…) What is important is that, at least in the European framework, we begin a serene reflection above the differences between the right and left, as this concerns something (…) which is dear to us all (…) It does not concern opening a court case against Silvio Berlusconi.
The President of the European Peoples' Party (of which Forza Italia is a member), Wilfried Martens, in a press release, asserted with regards to Silvio Berlusconi: I understand his European commitment, his support and continuous cooperation with the EPP as well as a strong leadership when Italy will take on the European Union Presidency.
In a press release, the President of the French National Assembly, Raymond Forni felt that democracy gives Italy results that we do not expect from it; it brings victory to men and parties for whom democracy is, it seems, not an end but a means. The huge concentration of information bodies in the hands of a single man, no more so than the use of extravagant spending cannot correspond to the characteristics needed for the fair functioning of democracy, adds Mr Forni who nevertheless underlines that the reversal experienced by the dangerous allies of Mr Berlusconi moderate the extent of the victory of the coalition lead by the "Cavaliere" and that the results obtained by Mr Rutelli do not correspond in anyway with the derailing wanted by today's winner. Finally concluding: Mr Berlusconi cannot ignore, no less than he must misunderstand the membership of the country he is called upon to govern to this European Union that gave itself as criteria the absolute respect for democracy.
Furthermore, The Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Louis Michel, felt on Tuesday that it is not a question of considering similar initiatives against Italy to those that had been decided upon against Austria. Mr Michel, who spoke during a meeting with his French counterpart Hubert vedrine, stated that he respects the results of the Italian elections and said he was pleased that the Ligua del Nord of Umberto Bossi lost seats. He wanted to disassociate the Italian and Austrian situations, by stating: in Austria the extreme right advanced. In Italy, it considerably lost ground. The relationships of strength are very different in the two countries. However he does not exclude that, under Silvio Berlusconi, Italy is less inclined to stimulate European integration. He also invited Italy to open a discussion over democratic access to the media.