Free Republic

CONTINENTAL Europe is at a crossroads. No, scratch that. Continental Europe was at a crossroads a few years ago. This week, it appears to have chosen its path. Taken together, the results of Italy's general election (which turfed out an economic reformer in favour of a former EU president) and the French Government's cave-in to rioters protesting against employment law reform suggest that the strongest forces in Europe today are those of appeasement, stasis and socialism. In Italy, voters were faced with a choice between media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, who was swept into office five years ago promising to cure...

Centre-left leader also stresses commitment to EU (ANSA) - Rome, April 12 - Centre-left leader Romano Prodi confirmed on Wednesday that his coalition intended to pull Italian troops out of Iraq by the end of 2006 and to push for a softer European line on Hamas. In a series of comments to the media on his foreign policy objectives, the former European Commission chief also confirmed that he would be more pro-Brussels and less pro-Washington than Premier Silvio Berlusconi . Much of the foreign interest in Prodi's foreign policy focused on Italy's involvement in Iraq. The country did not take...

 March 21, 2002 Red Brigades Say They 'Executed' Italy Official By REUTERS Filed at 3:35 p.m. ETROME (Reuters) - An offshoot of Italy's Red Brigades urban guerrilla movement published a 26-page Internet message on Thursday saying it had ``executed'' a top government adviser and reviving fears of a new era in political killings.Marco Biagi, 52, was shot dead on Tuesday night in the northern city of Bologna with the same pistol that the Red Brigades for the Construction of the Fighting Communist Party had used to kill another government aide in 1999.Police pored over video material collected from security...