Ruggiero, seen as favoring policies to further the integration of Italy in the European Union (EU), quit his office January 5 after a week of disagreements within the government over EU policy.

According to press reports, before he was forced to resign, Ruggiero had expressed in newspaper interviews that he was "filled with sadness" by his fellow ministers' lack of commitment to the new single currency and to the European integration.

Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, a rightist who leads a coalition government, said that he found Ruggiero's doubts about Italy's pro-European commitment "intolerable" and his continued presence in the government "unsustainable."

Umberto Bossi, head of the Northern League Party, a fascist-oriented outfit and member of Berlusconi's governing coalition, expressed his approval of the resignation saying that with Ruggiero, Italy "risked appearing weak in Europe every single day."

The Berlusconi government has taken a number of positions that have strained relations with the major EU powers, Germany and France especially. It has frozen Italian participation in a joint project to build a military aircraft and blocked the functioning of a new EU food agency.

Earlier, fearful that a proposed Europe-wide arrest warrant could be used against it, the Berlusconi government attempted to significantly cut back the number of crimes for which a person could be extradited to another EU country. Italian Justice minister Roberto Castelli, from the anti-immigrant Northern League, demagogically opposed the inclusion of racism and xenophobia in the list of crimes under the so-called "anti-terrorism" legislation by asking, "Who decides on a European level who is a racist and who isn't?"

French and German officials have expressed concern over the meaning of Ruggiero's resignation, with one calling it "bad news for everyone who loves a European Italy." The French finance minister said Italy "is one of the pillars of Europe and one can therefore be quite concerned" about the developments.

Berlusconi has taken over the post of foreign minister until a successor is found, and has sought to minimize the backlash from the other European powers by affirming his "clear and unequivocal" commitment to Europe.

"Europe is for me a goal and a necessity," he is quoted as saying in the December 7 Financial Times.

But Berlusconi insisted on drawing a distinction "between the continuity of our pro-European stance and the right to defend our interests." Deputy prime minister Gian–franco Fini supported this position by saying, "We remain totally committed to Europe, but we also reserve our right to defend our interests, just as the French and the Germans and the British do."  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home