A petition by Italian women academics that calls on wives of G8 leaders to boycott the forthcoming summit in Italy as a protest against the behaviour of President Berlusconi is gaining signatures. The main topic on the agenda of the L'Aquila summit in July is the stabilisation of Afghanistan, but the chief subject of conversation is likely to be the heroically/disgracefully goatish behaviour of Silvio Berlusconi.
Just as President Obama ushered in a dawn of subtle, complex, individualistic world citizens, so President Berlusconi has his own counter-cultural musical hall line-up of busty women in bikinis, hypocritical bishops and goose-stepping Germans.
He is not the only European leader who behaves differently to the model we expect in this country. An Australian politician I met the other day had been puzzled by a reception he attended at the Elysée Palace. It had been an occasion for global politicians of the centre-right to discuss political principles. President Sarkozy greeted his guests and then disappeared from the room. The politicians eagerly awaited his return so that discussions could begin. After an hour or so they became restless. My Australian acquaintance helped himself to a drink and looked at the view from the window onto the courtyard. To his astonishment, he recognised Sarkozy, in a tracksuit, jogging round the edge. The guests concluded that the explanation for such bizarre behaviour must be that Sarkozy was French.
President Sarkozy is married to a chic woman who records pretentious songs. He is clever, charming, vain, and tried to marginalise the British over D-Day. Because he is French. Similarly, if any politician is going to get away with a cabinet of chorus girls, he will probably be Italian. Remember, Emperor Nero was quite popular with his people. In a country famous for its pornographic television, for its indifference towards the political process and for a historically lax view of rape, Berlusconi is not a freak.
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