Bob Geldof joins the Pope in attack on Silvio Berlusconi over Africa aid

Bob Geldof joined the Pope to turn up the pressure on Silvio Berlusconi yesterday with a strident attack on the Italian Prime Minister’s record on aid before this week’s G8 summit. In a hard-hitting interview published yesterday, Geldof forced Mr Berlusconi to apologise for failing by a huge margin to meet his commitments on fighting poverty. Shown figures by Geldof proving that Italy had cut aid after promising large increases, Mr Berlusconi said: “I am sorry, we made a mistake . . . Our Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti has made a commitment to readjust in line with our undertakings within three years.” The singer and antipoverty campaigner labelled Mr Berlusconi “Mr 3 Per Cent”, saying that he had delivered only 3 per cent of the aid that Italy pledged at the G8 meeting at Gleneagles in 2005, when Mr Berlusconi was last in office. “How can you lead the G8? Where is your credibility?” asked Mr Geldof, who guest-edited La Stampa, the Turin daily, for a day. Mr Berlusconi admitted that Italy was “behind with its payments” but said that after Gleneagles he had been out of power for two and a half years, blaming the intervening Government of Romano Prodi and the financial crisis. Continue ...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6644438.ece