ITALIAN PRIME minister Silvio Berlusconi returned to Italy yesterday after a three-day trip to Russia that prompted more questions than answers.
Mr Berlusconi visited Russia to attend the 59th birthday party celebrations in St Petersburg of long-time ally Vladimir Putin.
Given that this was essentially a “private” visit, there were no official communiques indicating the nature of the business conducted between Mr Berlusconi and Russia’s prime minister and probable next president. All of which inevitably gave rise to speculation.
There are those who take it for granted that Mr Berlusconi was happy to spend a low-profile weekend partying with one of his most faithful allies in the international community. Mr Putin is the man who sprang to his beleaguered colleague’s defence last month when he said that people who “attacked Silvio Berlusconi for his special relationship with the fair sex” do so “mostly out of envy”.
Other commentators suggest that talks between the two are certain to have covered possible Russian measures to help the euro zone countries, such as buying into the European Financial Stability Fund. The controversial South Stream gas pipeline project may also have been discussed.
The scheme will mean Russian natural gas will be transported directly to southern Europe via the Black Sea, bypassing Ukraine.Along with Gazprom, Électricité de France and German company Wintershall, the Italian energy giant ENI is a major project shareholder, the estimated costs of which range between €25-15 billion.
Speculation that gas pipelines might have featured in conversation at Mr Putin’s dacha last weekend was heightened by the presence of another Putin ally, former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder, chairman of the other Gazprom bypass gas line, Nord Stream.
Mr Berlusconi and Mr Putin might also have discussed the potential purchase of Mr Berlusconi’s AC Milan football team by Gazprom.
Even though Mr Berlusconi insists that he has no intention of resigning, senior members of his People of Freedom party, including former cabinet ministers Giuseppe Pisanu, Claudio Scajola, president of the Lombardy region Roberto Formigoni and mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno, worried by his handling of the economy, are threatening a palace putsch.
An expected confidence vote on the controversial “gag” law on wiretap surveillance could also pose serious problems for the prime minister.