STRASBOURG, France: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi threw out the protocol rule book yesterday, missing NATO ceremonies and failing to greet his hosts because he was so engrossed in a mobile phone call.
A source in Berlusconi’s office said the Italian leader had been doing NATO business, trying to convince Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to accept the European candidate for the next head of the military alliance.
Berlusconi was speaking intensely into his mobile phone when he arrived for the start of a second day of a NATO summit. Instead of walking up the red carpet to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel he carried on his conversation.
A bemused-looking Merkel continued to welcome other arriving leaders, shrugging her shoulders at one point.
She eventually gave up on Berlusconi and led the other dignitaries across a footbridge over the Rhine River, where French President Nicolas Sarkozy met them half-way in a choreographed reception symbolizing unity within the alliance.
Berlusconi remained on the German side of the river, missing a group photograph and a minute’s silence in honor of NATO soldiers killed in action. When he finally joined the other 27 heads of state and government, he appeared to explain to Merkel and Sarkozy what had delayed him for so long.
It was the second time in a week that Berlusconi had raised eyebrows.
During a group photo with G-20 leaders in London on Wednesday, he appeared to startle Britain’s Queen Elizabeth by shouting out to the US president: “Mr. Obama! It’s Berlusconi.” The queen turned in apparent annoyance, raising a gloved hand, but Buckingham Palace played down the exchange, saying “there was no offense taken on either side.”
Italian press had a field day over the incident, with La Stampa newspaper saying the prime minister had an “unrivaled ability to make a fool of himself.”
Berlusconi said during the NATO summit he was fed up with the way the media treated him and promised a news blackout.
“I will no longer talk to you. I am working for Italy while you work against it. I will no longer give news conferences,” ANSA news agency quoted him as saying late Friday night.
