Fiuggi, 22/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - During a speech in Rome on the fringes of the European People's Party summer school on Friday 19 September 2008, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi surprised everyone by addressing the question of the Irish referendum rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, saying that he would be suggesting that Ireland holds two votes at the time of the European elections - a vote for MEPs and a vote on the Lisbon Treaty. He added that he had discussed the idea with Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president. Some of the summer school participants felt that this announcement was a forerunner for an announcement to be made by the French president at the 16-18 October 2008 European Council summit in Brussels.
German MEP Ingeborg Graessle said it was a very bad idea because it ran the risk of linking up the 'no' vote campaign with a political party that could say to people to vote for them because they said 'no'. Similar comments were made by British Conservative MEP Malcolm Harbour, who said it would be very bad to combine the two votes. Some parties also fear that the announcement will upset the Irish and strengthen anti-European feeling in the country, as member states had asked Irish leaders to come up with a solution to the crisis and present it to the October European Council. A European diplomat disagreed, saying that if the Irish were going to vote again on the Lisbon Treaty, the European elections was the only possible moment and it would be an opportunity to talk about the EU in a positive and tangible election context.
Silvio Berlusconi described his view of the situation in the Caucasus, saying that Ossetia could have been a detonator for a situation like during the Cold War but it was important to return to full cooperation between the United States and Russia. Berlusconi said that a meeting between the new US president and the Russian government would be one of his priorities.
Berlusconi said that the economic crisis on the world's financial markets was a major crisis but would have a limited impact in Europe. He expressed concern about the US intervention on the markets which would force European banks to raise interest rates, he said. He added that people had to react in Europe through the EU's own central bank, the European Central Bank, which should look at investment and infrastructure. He told the 250 participants that EU leaders had to send an optimistic message to their fellow citizens. (L.B.S./transl.fl)