THE GUARDIAN: ROME, June 19 (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi attacked the European Union on Thursday, saying it had lost influence on the world stage and its leaders were weaker than when he was last in office two years ago.
Speaking before an EU summit in Brussels, Berlusconi also criticised European Commissioners for speaking out publicly and creating problems for national governments, and said he would demand a more reserved approach from now on.
"I see a Europe which has gone backwards compared with two years ago," Berlusconi, who became prime minister for the third time following an April election victory, told a business conference in Rome.
He said Europe's current leaders had "less personality" than those attending summits when he was last in office, citing Tony Blair, Jose Maria Aznar, Gerhard Schroeder and Jacques Chirac, the former leaders of Britain, Spain, Germany and France.
"The EU appears as an institution that intervenes with obligations and restrictions," Berlusconi said in his latest broadside against the institutions of the 27-nation bloc. "It is not a protagonist on the world stage."
On Wednesday he blasted the EU for having done "absolutely nothing to stop the hypervaluation of the euro", and promised that he would use the EU summit to make the area "less bureaucratic and less distant from citizens". EU losing World Role, Has Weaker Leaders-Italy PM >>> Reuters | June 19, 2008
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