ITALY: The Italian Prime Minister, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, looks set to upstage many pressing international issues at today's monthly meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in Brussels.
The flamboyant billionaire businessman-turned-politician will attend the talks for the first time as Italian Foreign Minister following the resignation earlier this month of Mr Renato Ruggiero in a row over policy towards Europe.
The 15 EU ministers are expected to weigh up the possibility of sanctions against Zimbabwe over alleged human rights violations and to appeal once again to both Israelis and Palestinians to eschew violence and resume dialogue. But diplomats reluctantly conceded that Mr Berlusconi was likely to dominate the media limelight.
Mr Berlusconi has said he is in favour of closer European integration but has warned foreign allies they have no right to interfere in Italian politics and has asserted Italy's right to a strong voice in Brussels.
"We understand a large delegation of Italian journalists is coming to Brussels. The Italians have even asked if they can use the big briefing room (in the Council of Ministers) to be able to accommodate them all," said one EU diplomat. "But there will be no special red carpet treatment" for Mr Berlusconi, the diplomat added.
Mr Berlusconi is expected to get his way at the talks over how Italy is to be represented at the convention charting the future shape of the EU, which begins work on February 28th. He wants Italy to be represented at the convention by post-fascist party leader, Mr Gianfranco Fini, in addition to fielding one of the body's two vice-presidents, former left-wing prime minister, Mr Giuliano Amato.
Despite distaste among some EU governments over Mr Fini's past - he once praised Mussolini as the "greatest man of the century" - diplomats acknowledged there was little the rest of the EU could do to block the nomination.
"The convention does not yet have its own police force (to control who joins the discussions)," one diplomat joked.
Mr Berlusconi has made clear that if Italy has to forgo one of its two representatives it will be Mr Amato, not Mr Fini, who will have to stand down.
Some centre-left EU governments are as uncomfortable about the prospects of dealing with Mr Berlusconi himself as with Mr Fini. Mr Berlusconi's "eurosceptic declarations have somewhat hurt us and in any case disappointed us," the French Education Minister, Mr Jack Lang, told Italy's La Repubblica newspaper in an interview published yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Italian junior culture minister, Mr Vittorio Sgarbi, yesterday found himself in the middle of a brewing scandal for censoring a television show on a channel owned by Mr Berlusconi.
An Italian court issued an injunction at Mr Sgarbi's request on Saturday to block part of yesterday's broadcast of the satirical program The Hyenas, which included a segment about Mr Sgarbi opening museums at night for personal visits.