A defiant Silvio Berlusconi held White House talks with President Obama yesterday, seeking to restore some of his international lustre as scandals and talk of a coup to overthrow him continued to swirl at home.
With world media attention riveted by lurid details of his private life, the Italian Prime Minister did his best to present himself in sober and statesmanlike pose at the meeting with Mr Obama.
They discussed the crisis in Iran, the Middle East peace process, troop commitments in Afghanistan and next month’s G8 summit, which Italy will host in the earthquake-ravaged town of L’Aquila. Mr Berlusconi said that Italy would take three detainees from Guantánamo Bay, which the US wants to close by January next year.
It was all a long way from the furore over allegations about Mr Berlusconi’s relationship with Noemi Letizia — an 18-year-old aspiring model — and photographs of scantily clad individuals at his villa in Sardinia.
Mr Berlusconi was quoted in Italy by La Repubblica yesterday as vowing to step down and call an early election if his opponents continued with an alleged plot to bring him down. “My Government will go ahead calmly, but if it does not then we shall have to return to the polls,” he was reported to have said.
However, the Prime Minister’s spokesman dismissed the remark last night as fantasy.
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6506541.ece
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