URGENT: LEADERS NEEDED FOR HIGHLY-PAID JOB!

In mid-December Europe witnessed an attack on Italy's 73-year-old prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. This happened immediately after an emotional speech to a public rally of the ruling party "The People of Freedom" in Milan. Among the participants in the rally was a group of people who disagreed with Berlusconi's policies. And as he descended from the stage and walked through the crowd, shaking hands with his supporters, one of them threw a statuette, a copy of Milan Cathedral, which hit the prime minister in the face. Police arrested M. Tartaglia, 42, who has no previous criminal record. The official version is that the assailant has been under the supervision of a psychiatrist for 10 years and has a fairly long history of mental illness. This version is dubious for at least for two reasons. First, the assailant attributed his action to his dislike of Silvio Berlusconi's policies. And it is strange that a psychopath turns out to be fairly well versed in the negative aspects of the Italian prime minister's policies and explains his deeds clearly. Second, it became known that while Silvio Berlusconi was at the hospital, the police arrested a second mentally-disturbed man who tried to enter the ward through a window to attack the high-ranking patient. It seems that in Italy, a secret order of psychopaths has been founded which aims to stalk or cripple Silvio Berlusconi. It was also claimed later that the attack was staged by the Italian prime minister himself. Investigating all the subtleties of this incident is the business of the Italian law enforcement agencies. Those who make an attempt on the life of the country's political leader must be held to account under Italian law.

However, in this article we would like to focus entirely on a different aspect, which I think is a more significant problem than the attack on Silvio Berlusconi. I am confident that this aspect played a key role in the incident involving the Italian prime minister. By the way, some experts do not rule out similar attacks on the leaders of other European countries. With this in mind, the security services of these countries intend to strengthen measures to ensure the safety of their political leaders. It is therefore no exaggeration to say that this incident shocked the whole of the "old" continent. The statuette thrown in Silvio Berlusconi's face is probably a challenge to the leaders of the major European powers and organizations. A reasonable question arises: "Does such a challenge have good reason? Is this one-off incident and challenge a direct consequence of the damage done to the concept of 'political leadership' by the heads of leading European countries?" It is regrettable that this is most likely the case.

Silvio in role

Let's start with Berlusconi himself. The years of his premiership have engendered a long train of scandalous stories, of which the Italian electorate appears to be pretty tired. Prominent experts argue that "the blood-stained face of Silvio Berlusconi is a symbol of a country in which political disputes have long resulted in enmity and hatred." With his arrival in Italian politics 15 years ago, he changed radically the atmosphere in his country. The Italian prime minister calls his political opponents "arseholes" and "fraudsters", critical media - "a dump", judges and prosecutors "a cancer on democracy", which sits badly with the language of a political leader. Berlusconi recognizes no separation of powers: he is elected by the people and all other state institutions must obey him. Nevertheless, for him and his supporters, he is "the best prime minister of the last 150 years." But his opponents see him as a "dark force", or a "funny scarecrow", or as both. Thus many Italians believe that he has become an "obsession". There have been countless scandals over Silvio Berlusconi's ties with the Italian organization Cosa Nostra. And in the first week of December, Rome saw a mass anti-government demonstration, with a huge banner demanding "Berlusconi - Resign" and scandalous chants such as "Thief, mobster and clown". Although the participants included well-known representatives of opposition parties, almost all the demonstrators dressed in purple, symbolizing the fact that they represent civil society and do not belong to any political party. Silvio Berlusconi himself called rumours about his ties to the mafia "unfounded and insulting", and said that he has always fought organized crime: "I am accused of what I have never had in mind. If there has ever been a government that has done everything possible to combat the mafia, it is my government." He has a very painful response to all talk about the mafia. Rejecting all allegations, he also promised to "strangle" the authors of books and films about the Cosa Nostra, because they spoil the image of Italy: "If I find out who authored the 'Octopus', I swear I will strangle him." This is a peculiar way to fight the mafia. The Italian Constitutional Court, in turn, declared as unconstitutional a decree establishing judicial immunity for the five leading state officials - president, prime minister, both speakers of parliament and the head of the Constitutional Court. According to the court ruling, this amendment to the law (the so-called "Alfano Law"), adopted after the current leader of the centre-right coalition, Silvio Berlusconi, became Prime Minister, violates two articles of the Italian Constitution, including the one providing for the "principle of equality." The sexual scandals and amours that the Italian prime minister is famed for are an open secret. The 73-year-old prime minister's orgies in the company of girls of easy virtue have become a talking point. Besides, his obscene gestures and antics have been repeatedly documented by devotees of scandalous stories. Silvio Berlusconi will most likely go down in history from for this reason, rather than as a strong prime minister. Even his wife Veronica Lario, despite 30 years of marital life and their three children, chose to divorce her husband to avoid becoming a focus of attention due to unseemly stories involving the Italian prime minister. Things reached such a point that the Rolling Stone magazine declared him "rock star of the year" for his notoriety.

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy's husband

The president of another leading power on the "old" continent is no slouch compared to his Italian counterpart. Nicolas Sarkozy, head of the French Republic, has repeatedly accused his political opponents of spreading rumours to discredit him. But he himself does not seem to shrink from such antics. The French president has never concealed his distaste for IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Even Strauss-Kahn's assumption of the post was a result of this enmity. Sarkozy actively lobbied for the appointment as it guaranteed his absence from France. It is known that during the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, the French president encountered Strauss-Kahn in the toilet, and they had a very unpleasant conversation. According to eyewitnesses, Strauss-Kahn accused the French leader of spreading rumours about the IMF managing director's sexual promiscuity: "I know very well that all these rumours come from the Elysee palace. Tell your boys to stop it, otherwise I'll take you to court." According to one French expert, Strauss-Kahn is the most dangerous enemy that Sarkozy has met in his entire political career and no-one is surprised that unbridled warfare has been unleashed against him.

When Sarkozy shook hands with people during his visit to an international agricultural exhibition, one of them refused the offer, saying: "Do not touch me. You are soiling me." In response, the French president said: "Go away, you bloody idiot". 

Incidentally, this is not the first such situation involving the French president. During one public appearance, Sarkozy was insulted by a young man who shouted something to him from the balcony. The president invited him to come downstairs, but he said that if he came downstairs, the president would not be better off. Recently, the name of the French president has been mentioned mostly thanks to his third wife, 42-year-old Italian-French singer and model Carla Bruni. As you can see, he, too, has been unable to avoid divorce proceedings. He divorced twice and has one son from each of his previous two marriages. Chewing gum during a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul, which is an insult to the head of another state, Sarkozy surpassed himself in violating diplomatic etiquette. After this, some Turkish newspapers called him not "President Sarkozy of France," but "the husband of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy". But, apparently, it did not upset him at all and, perhaps, quite the contrary, he was even flattered.

Nor is he concerned about the disastrous results of his diplomatic mission in last August's events in the South Caucasus. After a year of red tape, the OSCE laid the blame for these events on Tbilisi.

Thus, there is no point in talking about Sarkozy as the strong leader that all of Europe needs. Rare attempts to compare the current French president with Charles de Gaulle, Francois Mitterrand, or even with Jacques Chirac are doomed to failure.

"Iron Girl"

It may not be directly relevant to our topic, but it's still worth noting that today all leaders of major European countries seem to distinguish themselves by multiple marriages. The first woman chancellor in the history of Germany, Angela Merkel, has also failed to avoid such a fate. In 1988, she entered into a second marriage. Although she looks better in the company of her European counterparts, it would still be an exaggeration to talk about her charisma or strong leadership qualities. This is especially noticeable when compared to Bismarck, Adenauer, Helmut Kohl and even Schroeder, who made an impression as a gentler leader than any other German chancellor. Besides, Merkel's political rise in Germany shows that even her associates cannot trust her. Angela Merkel's transformation into a significant public and political figure is a far greater mystery than her personal life. Until 35, she was miles away from politics. She was not known as a dissident or as a member of any protest movement. Only after the fall of the Berlin Wall did Merkel involve herself in politics, joining the Democratic Awakening movement. She became deputy speaker of the last GDR government headed by Lothar de Maiziere. By the way, he is considered the discoverer of the phenomenon called Angela Merkel. Throughout her ministerial career, Merkel has not always been able to find the necessary compromise and has constantly had to engage in conflict. Merkel's second godfather is Gunther Krause, who held the post of parliamentary secretary. Thanks to his efforts, she was elected to the Bundestag. However, he coined a phrase that instantly became popular with opponents of Germany's woman chancellor: "She is a nice, pleasant woman, but once you turn away, she immediately gives you a kick in the backside." Nevertheless, for significant progress in her political career, she is indebted to Helmut Kohl who recommended her for the post of Secretary General of the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) in 1998. Ascending the political Olympus, Merkel disdained no means of achieving the cherished goal. She masterfully "knocked out" anyone who tried to compete with her for influence. Friends and colleagues were no exception. In late 1999, a major scandal broke out around the illegal financing of the CDU treasury. Then Kohl assumed all political responsibility. A month later, the famous Algemeine Frankfurter Zeitung published an article by Merkel in which she urged CDU representatives to distance themselves from Kohl. Many argue that they did not expect such a thing from her. Instead of a pretty scholar and strong political leader unfettered by political rules and intrigue, we get the image of a hard politician. For this reason, the publicist Alexander Osang characterizes her as follows in his article "Iron Girl": "She divides men into two groups - those who promote her career and those who feel used. She has spent all her life learning to juggle between the two fronts. The whole question is what she wants. It is very difficult to understand." I think that she herself does not understand this. As for some of her gems like "we, the conservatives, want to conserve everything that requires conservation and develop everything that requires development" or "what I said was not nonsense, but a wrong opinion," Russian analysts compare them to Viktor Chernomyrdin's lexicon. She once said that Ukraine was not a state, thus insulting the Ukrainian people and calling into question the right of a sovereign state to exist.

What can Gordon be proud of?

The United Kingdom has also run out of bright political leaders, although it gave world history such individuals as Disraeli, Churchill and Thatcher. The current Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, is only remembered for being given a dressing down by Queen Elizabeth II for disclosing the spending of state funds by British MPs for their personal needs. According to the British media, he was told off like a schoolboy. Although Mr Brown offered the humblest apology to the British electorate, his personal image and the position of the Labour Party were severely damaged. His predecessor and party friend, Tony Blair, also received not very flattering feedback. According to some experts, Mr Blair may go down in history as the most dim-witted person to ever lead Britain's foreign policy: "He 'revealed' a terrible threat to Britain from Iraq's mythical weapons of mass destruction and completely overlooked Russia's gradual seizure of hegemonic positions in Europe." In addition, many still remember the words of his wife during the second election campaign, when she credited her husband, not for his big political successes, but for displaying heroism as many as five times a night in bed with her.

Who will lead the EU?

This is how ugly the picture looks when you monitor closely the activities of the leaders of major European powers, and not only the leaders of individual countries. Just look at the elections to top positions in pan-European organizations to understand that the "old" continent can no longer boast of producing important and powerful political leaders as was the case until recently. It is not enough that the leaders of major European countries do not have extraordinary qualities, they are also trying to push through unremarkable candidates for positions in pan-European organizations. This is proved by the recent election of Belgium's Prime Minister, Herman Van Rompuy - someone with almost no political merit and of whom the public is barely aware - as the first EU president. He is known for one harsh statement made in 2004: "The EU is a club of Christian countries and, therefore, there is no room in it for Muslim Turkey." Perhaps this statement is his most important asset. This view exists alongside the recent plebiscite held in Switzerland concerning a ban on the construction of minarets. Especially as some countries - the "keepers" of Christian values - have already expressed a desire to join the hysteria. It should also be noted that the election of Herman Van Rompuy as EU president was supported by Germany and France. Although the candidacy of British Baroness Catherine Margaret Ashton (a 53-year-old mother of five, the current European Commissioner for Trade) for the post of EU foreign minister was largely unexpected, it suited everyone. At the final press conference, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said with satisfaction: "I am happy that the verdict fell to these future leaders of our organization!" Here we certainly cannot omit the brilliant words of that connoisseur of rulers' souls, Machiavelli: "A ruler's mind is judged, first of all, by the kind of people he brings close to himself."

It is obvious that the weak European leaders are not interested in strong leadership within the European community. Most likely, they are afraid to appear even more insignificant next to a strong political president and EU foreign minister. Or all their talk of a united Europe is political speculation and idle chatter, as is quite typical of the leaders of all European powers when they are required to take decisive action. This proves that these countries will never struggle for a common European home which makes even the slightest impact on the interests of their own countries. The anxiety of Green Party German MP Rebecca Harms best demonstrates the strength of such a judgment: "I can say that the heads of states and governments failed to agree on how to open the era of the Lisbon Treaty with the election of a strong EU president. Their choice fell on a technocrat and I do not really like that, because I think that Europe does need a strong leader." Finally, we should turn to a famous aphorism by Sir Winston Churchill about the art of politics: "A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen." How many European politicians meet these requirements?