C 229 E/130 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 26.9.2002
Mr Silvio Berlusconi, who is not only President of the Italian Council but also Italy’s temporary Foreign Minister, attended the Lega Nord congress, where Mr Bossi repeated his accusations and invective aimed at the entire European Community. Not only did Mr Berlusconi not react to those accusations; he implicitly endorsed them through his silence and his smiling acquiescence.
Such behaviour on the part of leading representatives of the Italian Government may cast doubt on Italy’s genuine desire to ‘cooperate fairly’ in European integration.
In particular, such statements indicate that Italy might not ‘facilitate the achievement of the Community’s tasks’ and might encourage ( actively or passively ( measures which could jeopardise the attainment of the EC Treaty’s objectives (Article 10 of that Treaty).
What action is the Council intending to take in order to clarify this state of affairs?
(2002/C 229 E/147) WRITTEN QUESTION P-0757/02 by Giuseppe Di Lello Finuoli (GUE/NGL) to the Council
(19 March 2002)
Subject: Statements by Mr Bossi
The Italian minister responsible for institutional reform, Mr Umberto Bossi, has recently described the European Union as ‘Stalinist’ and as a kind of ‘Forcolandia’ (a colourful, pejorative term which suggests that the EU promotes acts which undermine the fundamental freedoms of the individual). Other government representatives share or at least endorse his deplorable views.
Mr Silvio Berlusconi, who is not only President of the Italian Council but also Italy’s temporary Foreign Minister, attended the Lega Nord congress, where Mr Bossi repeated his accusations and invective aimed at the entire European Community. Not only did Mr Berlusconi not react to those accusations; he implicitly endorsed them through his silence and his smiling acquiescence.
Such behaviour on the part of leading representatives of the Italian Government may cast doubt on Italy’s genuine desire to ‘cooperate fairly’ in European integration.
In particular, such statements indicate that Italy might not ‘facilitate the achievement of the Community’s tasks’ and might encourage ( actively or passively ( measures which could jeopardise the attainment of the EC Treaty’s objectives (Article 10 of that Treaty).
What action is the Council intending to take in order to clarify this state of affairs?
(2002/C 229 E/148) WRITTEN QUESTION P-0779/02 by Armando Cossutta (GUE/NGL) to the Council
(19 March 2002)
Subject: Italian Government statements falling outside the democratic framework of the Charter of Fundamental Rights
At the recent congress of the Lega Nord, a party which holds three important ministries in the Italian Government headed by Mr Berlusconi, the party secretary, Umberto Bossi, Minister for Institutional Reforms, expressed a number of political views of an extremely serious nature, opposing the democratic principles established by the Treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
This is not just a case of a legitimate anti-European point of view which we do not endorse. The statements made by ministers of the Berlusconi Government at the Lega Nord congress, which Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi approves since he did not dispute them at the congress, are in blatant violation of the principles on which the European Union is founded, as set out in Article 6 of the TEU.