Centre right Forza Italia (FI) party
members showed their ire Tuesday at former French President
Nicolas Sarkozy's account in excerpts of a new book published by
Corriere della Sera of him and German Chancellor Angela Merkel
allegedly forcing late former FI leader and three-time
ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi to quit with Italy on the verge of
a Greek-style sovereign debt crisis in 2011.
"Silvio Berlusconi was always a visionary and far-sighted
leader," said FI MP and Transport Undersecretary Tullio
Ferrante,
"It's enough to think of when Sarkozy decided to eliminate
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, with the support of Italian
institutional chiefs and despite the opposition of Berlusconi,
who was the only one who foresaw exactly the tinderbox that
Libya would become, and still is today.
"The truth for these half leaders, destined for oblivion, is
that they have never accepted the idea that an Italian, a man of
the centre right, could go down in history.
"He succeeded in doing so, his history was and will continue to
be glorious.
"He will be followed by Berlusconism, a current of thought that
includes not only a political and economic doctrine but also an
entire vision of the world.
"Can we say the same for Nicolas Sarkozy?"
Other leading FI members said the plot against Berlusconi had
been "grave", and reiterated that "Berlusconi is history while
Sarkozy is forgotten".
FI MEP Fulvio Martusciello said the ex French president,
"condemned for corruption", had written the book containing
"gratuitous insults" aimed at the media mogul turned politician,
because he had "disappeared into nothingness and is now forced
to make ends meet".
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