When Silvio Berlusconi was last in Washington in October 2008, George Bush fêted him for two days: there was a welcoming ceremony on the South Lawn, a state dinner, meetings in the Oval Office and a Rose Garden press conference.
The Italian Prime Minister’s first one-to-one encounter with President Obama on Monday will be a rather different affair. He will be in Washington less than a day. He will hold an Oval Office meeting, followed by a very brief question-and-answer session with reporters. By evening he will be on his way back to Rome.
It is hard to think of two men more different, both ideologically and in their personal behaviour, than the US President and his Italian guest. Mr Obama will not let those differences show in public. Yet the prospect of Mr Berlusconi’s arrival in Washington, amid scandals over his relationship with a teenage model, his very public divorce, stories of semi-naked showgirls at his Sardinian villa — even his decision last week to repeat comments about Mr Obama’s “suntan” — has not filled the White House with joy.
The Italian leader was one of Mr Bush’s staunchest supporters on the international stage but his antics and statements since Mr Obama’s election victory have hardly got relations with the new Administration off to a good start. Indeed, Mr Obama has kept him at arms length since taking office, with no bilateral meetings until now. It is far from clear that Monday’s meeting would even be taking place were it not for Mr Berlusconi now holding the rotating G8 presidency, ahead of the G8 summit in L’Aquila in July.
What has particularly irked US officials is Mr Berlusconi’s attempts to play the elder statesman. From afar he has lectured the Obama Administration on its need to repair relations with Russia and attempted to promote Italy as a diplomatic bridge to Iran. Mr Berlusconi’s close ties with Vladimir Putin are regarded with suspicion in Washington. He also arrives after a meeting in Rome this week with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, who turned his visit into an anti-American rant, attacking the US in a speech at the Senate and comparing America to al-Qaeda.
Mr Berlusconi is desperate to mend fences with Mr Obama, something that was visible to all at the recent G20 in London when, at the summit photocall, he shouted out “Mister Obama!” — to the irritation of the Queen.
Two weeks ago Mr Berlusconi announced unilaterally that he would meet Mr Obama on June 15. There was a deafening silence from the White House.
During Mr Obama’s trip to Europe and Egypt Italian reporters pushed for confirmation. None was forthcoming. “It was becoming a bit of a mystery,” one Italian official in Washington said. Another said: “This meeting is something of a duty — the Obama people have to do this. They are not warm about Berlusconi coming here.” Franco Frattini, the Italian Foreign Minister, insists that US-Italian ties are as close as ever, and denies that Mr Obama has snubbed Mr Berlusconi. Indeed, most foreign leaders who have visited the White House have had similar treatment. The US and Italy, Mr Frattini said, “share the same objectives on a range of issues in the run-up to the G8”.
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