23 July 2001
Italian leader backs missile defence,
says Europe hasn't understood threats
news.excite.ca

At a joint press conference, Silvio Berlusconi urged Russia to come on board with the U.S. plans, saying he agreed strongly that the new military threats facing the United States, Europe and even Russia required new responses.

"We will always be next to the United States in order to take part in this discussion, going well beyond the attitudes of certain European states which still today have not in my opinion understood how the world has changed and how we should start worrying about the future," Berlusconi said.

His comments, his strongest yet to date in support of the U.S. plans, clearly pleased Bush, who has met with resistance from America's other European allies, Russia and China about plans to develop a missile defence shield.

Development of the program would require scrapping or amending the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, considered the cornerstone of arms control agreements.

Russia has opposed the plan, fearing it would lead to a new arms race. But on Sunday after the conclusion of the G-8 summit in Genoa, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Bush announced a surprise agreement for new arms control talks that would link discussion of missile defences to talks on shrinking nuclear stockpiles.

"We look to a progressive journey of the Russian Federation," Berlusconi said.

Berlusconi also took the opportunity to stress the role the United States played in the Second World War.

"Thanks to your country, to your great democracy, to the young lives that the Americans sacrificed in Italian territory over 50 years ago, Italy ended a very dark moment where totalitarianism had got rid of freedom," Berlusconi said.