If you believe the "mainstream" European press, you now think that the European Union is suffering through one of its worst moments because the current president is Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister. The EU's presumed misery reportedly rests on the "fact" that Berlusconi is inordinately corrupt, and for extras owns magazines and television stations, thereby putting him in a unique conflict of interest.In fact, they hate Berlusconi not because he's corrupt (can you imagine Jacques Chirac being upset over corruption?) — for which there is no convincing evidence — but because he has shown them up, time after time.