Posted on 12/15/2004 11:17:49 AM PST by an italian
US President George W. Bush was expected to hear European worries about the weak dollar as he welcomed Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for talks also set to focus on violence in Iraq.
Bush and Berlusconi, who staunchly backed the US-led March 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein,were to meet in the Oval office around 11:25 am (1625 GMT) and hold a brief joint public appearance afterwards.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan praised Rome's "important contributions" to building democracies in Afghanistan and Iraq and said the two leaders would discuss "how we can continue to move forward together.
Bush also hoped to discuss how to improve transAtlantic relations strained by the war in Iraq -- a goal he has publicly made a priority of the second four-year term he won in November 2 US elections.
The US president, who will pursue that aim during a trip to Europe in February, "intends to continue reaching out to our European friends on ways we can work together to address common challenges," said McClellan.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Michel Barnier of France -- which saw relations with the United States sour when it opposed the war in Iraq -- was to meet separately with outgoing US Secretary of State Colin Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Ricewhom Bush has chosen to succeed him.
The US president said in a December 1 speech in Canada that he would try to repair transAtlantic ties, while serving notice that it would be mostly on Washington's terms.
But Bush was expected to hear from Berlusconi that Europe has deep concerns about the weakness of the dollar and that a stronger US currency is needed to safeguard US-EU trade ties.
"The dollar must not be too weakened compared to the euro because that creates the risk of damaging trade relations between the two sides," Berlusconi said recently.
"We need a shift in the direction of the (European) Central Bank's policy to change the relationship between the euro and the dollar," Berlusconi told a meeting of his ruling party last weekend.
The White House has repeatedly insisted that Bush favors a "strong dollar policy" even as the US currency slid to record lows against the euro, and on Wednesday McClellan offered no new solutions to its weakness.
Bush and Berlusconi were expected to discuss security and elections set for January in Iraq, where Italy currently has a 3,000-strong military contingent deployed as part of coalition forces.
Other topics were expected to include the US leader's stated goal of overhauling international institutions, including the United Nations.
Italy fears being relegated to second-class status within the European Union if Germany is ever given a seat as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
The current permanent members include two other EU countries, France and Britain.
Instead, the Italians would prefer the entire European Union as a bloc to given a permanent Security Council seat.
Italian TV said Mr Bush called Berlusconi a great friend, a man that keeps his word. Berlusconi answerd he's a proud friend of America. That was a great meeting!
Bella Italia...even the Italian Communists I used to know were...shall we say...unique. They wore the hammer and sickle chains in 18k gold around their cashmere sweater covered necks and drove their "commie" alfa romeos while sipping their dry martinis ...I always laughed at their blatant "materialismo".
Ive been to Britain, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Greece, and Id have to say that Italy was one of my 2 favorites (Switzerland is the other one).
Bravo Italy! I've narrowed my wine to three, America,Australia and Italy.
Still upset at the supposed snub...but I withhold judgement until the facts are in.
Excellent idea. ;)
And I always tell the wine sellers why I do not buy French/German...some of them look confused, some get tense, but some agree.
Bulgarian wines are good too.
One reason I know the Islamo-facists/terrorist are total nutburgers....
a while after 9-11, even The Los Angeles Times released surveillance tapes of
Islamic operatives in Italy.
It was just an endless litany of "...I really hate Italy, the food is no good, etc., etc., etc."
I probably did learn all I needed to know about (radical) Islam on 9-11...
but the transcripts of those tapes told me that the practitioners of that
radical faith needed deportation from any civilized country or killed.
Heck, even the Germans in WWII had some sort of saying about civilians
suspected of collaboration: "Don't kill the Italian...he's a cook!".
Ah...have you ever tried a Belgian lambric? That stuff is yummy. Made by some monks, but I can't remember which order. I'll have to look it up.
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