FRANCE: The former French president, Mr Valery Giscard d'Estaing, who has the task of EU reform, sought to defuse suspicions of Italian euroscepticism yesterday by praising Mr Silvio Berlusconi's pro-Europe credentials.
Mr Giscard said after meeting the Italian prime minister, that he was impressed with Mr Berlusconi's "European credo".
Mr Berlusconi has been under fire since effectively ousting his pro-Europe foreign minister, Mr Renato Ruggiero, taking over the portfolio himself, and declaring that Italy would become more assertive in European affairs.
Mr Giscard, who travelled to Italy yesterday as part of a tour of European capitals before the first meetings of his convention in March, also wanted some clarification that Rome would not swing away from Brussels.