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### Viewing cable 09ROME752, SCENESETTER FOR THE PRESIDENT'S MEETING WITH

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
09ROME752 | 2009-06-26 16:04 | 2011-03-11 11:11 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Rome

`

    VZCZCXRO0051
    OO RUEHNP RUEHROV
    DE RUEHRO #0752/01 1771630
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    O 261630Z JUN 09
    FM AMEMBASSY ROME
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2292
    INFO RUCNMEU/EU INTEREST COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
    RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 3337
    RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 0708
    RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 4585
    RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 1917
    RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV PRIORITY 1028
    RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 2031
    RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN PRIORITY 0886
    RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 0486
    RUEHMIL/AMCONSUL MILAN PRIORITY 0102
    RUEHNP/AMCONSUL NAPLES PRIORITY 3874

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 ROME 000752

    SIPDIS

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/26/2019
    TAGS: PGOV PREL IT
    SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR THE PRESIDENT'S MEETING WITH
    ITALIAN PRESIDENT GIORGIO NAPOLITANO

    Classified By: CHARGE EDIBBLE

    SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR THE PRESIDENT'S MEETING WITH
    ITALIAN PRESIDENT GIORGIO NAPOLITANO

    Classified By: CHARGE EDIBBLE

    Mr. President, welcome to Rome.

    1.(U)  Summary. Italian President Giorgio Napolitano greatly
    appreciates your foreign and domestic policies and is
    extremely pleased to be meeting with you. Napolitano is a
    senior center-left statesman with a pro-European and strong
    Trans-Atlantic bent. In a recent speech, entitled ""Will
    Europe Live Up to its Responsibilities in a Globalized
    World?,"" he called your policies ""forceful and imaginative,""
    characterizing them as having ""opened new prospects"" and
    terming the US ""our fundamental partner.""

    ¶2. (C) As Italian President, Giorgio Napolitano has generally
    lived up to the expectation that he should be an
    institutional figure above party politics and serve as a
    guarantor of the Constitution.  Elected in 2006, Napolitano
    is serving a 7-year term.  He is broadly respected across the
    political spectrum, and has enhanced his reputation by
    showing balance as he first dealt with Romano Prodi's
    center-left government (2006-08) and now with Silvio
    Berlusconi's center-right government. He has occasionally
    entered the political fray, usually to try to elevate the
    level of discourse. The Italian presidency is primarily a
    ceremonial job, and Napolitano's greatest tool is ""moral
    suasion,"" something that commentators and contacts agree that
    he uses particularly effectively and appropriately.

    ¶3. (C) Napolitano earned his political stripes early with his
    active opposition to fascism during World War II.  During the
    Allied occupation of Italy, he worked for the allied forces,
    learning excellent English. In 1945, he joined the Italian
    Communist Party (PCI) and was elected to Parliament in 1953
    under its banner.  A moderate, Napolitano was the first
    Communist member of Parliament with which the US Embassy in
    Rome met. In 2001, he told an interviewer that he strongly
    opposed the link between Italy's far left and domestic
    terrorism, as well as the anti-Americanism within the PCI in
    the 1970s and 1980s. Napolitano abruptly resigned from the
    party in 1989, saying that it needed serious reform to
    reflect global realities. End Summary

    --------------------------------------------- ---
    Napolitano and the Role of the Italian President
    --------------------------------------------- ----

    ¶4. (U) Elected by Parliament, the President is expected to be
    above party politics, and Italians regard the office as an
    institutional, not a political one.  The President
    countersigns and enacts laws approved by Parliament and has
    the power to send them back for re-examination. The President
    also has the power to appoint the Prime Minister, the other
    ministers, and to dissolve Parliament. While these duties are
    often formalities, when a Prime Minister loses a confidence
    vote, the President has the crucial role of determining
    whether to form a new government, who should be empowered to
    seek a mandate from Parliament, or whether to hold early
    elections. The President also commands the armed forces and
    can offer clemency to those convicted of crimes.

    ¶5. (C) Although in office just three years, Napolitano, who
    turns 84 on June 29, has presided over the formation of two
    governments.  His handling of the collapse of the Prodi
    government in January 2008 earned him plaudits for his smooth
    handling of a chaotic situation.  Since Berlusconi took
    office in May 2008, Napolitano has sought a non-partisan
    approach, with his primary goal the defense of the
    institutions of the state.  For example, in August 2008,
    Napolitano publicly criticized the Berlusconi government for
    overuse of confidence votes, arguing that they sidestepped
    important parliamentary debate.  In June 2009 during the
    campaign for the European Parliament elections -- a campaign
    dominated by allegations about Berlusconi's private life --
    Napolitano called for a higher level of political debate.
    Napolitano's balanced approach has won him wide praise and
    garnered greater regard for the office.  Politicians from the
    center left and the center right consistently express
    approval for the way Napolitano has governed.

    ROME 00000752  002 OF 005

    -------------------------------------
    President Napolitano's Foreign Policy
    -------------------------------------

    ¶6. (U) President Napolitano uses his office to advance a
    moral and progressive world view that is pro-European and
    pro-Translatlantic, recognizing the inevitability of
    globalization and Italy's need to meet its challenges.  In a
    speech delivered in London on May 19, 2009, entitled ""Will
    Europe Live Up to its Responsibilities in a Globalized
    World?"" he praised your policies as ""forceful and
    imaginative,"" characterizing them as having ""opened new
    prospects,"" and calling the US ""our fundamental partner."" In
    that speech (and you will surprise and please him if you
    bring it up), he focused on a more coordinated and
    forward-leaning defense posture for Europe, stating ""Europe
    is not fated to become marginalized if we can live up to our
    responsibilities in a globalized world.""  Noting that Europe
    ""is still suspected of wanting to lay the responsibility for,
    and the burden of, its defense and security on the shoulders
    of its American ally, he goes on to say that ""we must be
    absolutely sure that the EU and/or its i
    ndividual Member States does and do not effectively
    underestimate their joint responsibility for the safeguard of
    their individual security interests and of those of the Union
    as a whole.""  Napolitano concludes that Europe can live up to
    its responsibilities on condition that it develops stronger
    common institutions, policies, and budget resources.

    ¶7. (SBU) President Napolitano is very careful, however, not
    to step over the constitutional line as head of state into
    the policies and decisions of the head of government.  While
    pragmatic, President Napolitano is highly principled in his
    actions, refusing to meet with PM Lukashenko, for instance,
    during the latter's visit to Rome in April, 2009, or with
    President Ahmadinejad when the latter was in Rome for the
    June 2008 FAO summit.

    -----------------------
    Topics for discussion
    -----------------------

    ¶8. (C) During a ten minute one-on-one session, Napolitano has
    indicated to us he will focus on internal Italian politics.
    In the past few weeks the Italian political scene has been
    consumed with a series of scandalous allegations concerning
    Prime Minister Berlusconi's private life. The allegations
    that ran rampant during the June campaign for the European
    Parliament did not disappear after the election, and
    Berlusconi is in a running battle with former PM Massimo
    D'Alema and La Repubblica newspaper, which Berlusconi blames
    for these charges. Contacts tell us that they fear and expect
    new accusations to emerge during the G8 summit. Still,
    Berlusconi does not have a clear competitor within his own
    People of Liberty party, which is by far the largest in
    Italy, while the left remains weak, deeply divided and in low
    standing with the public.

    ¶9. (U) In a subsequent thirty minute meeting, President
    Napolitano proposes the following:

    ---------------------------

    Middle East Peace Process
    ---------------------------

    ¶10. (C) Italy has positioned itself to be ""Israel's best
    friend in Europe,"" a status that was reinforced when PM
    Netanyahu made Italy his first stop in Europe during a June
    23-24 visit, and by the extremely warm welcome he received
    here, including a meeting with President Napolitano.
    Netanyahu's staff were startled that what was planned as a
    30-minute drop-by with Napolitano went well over an hour, due
    to the apparent chemistry between the two. President
    Napolitano regards the Israeli-Palestinian situation through
    the lens of the balance between legality and human rights.
    He sees the peace process moving forward only with strong US
    support.  He regards your Cairo speech as a ""masterpiece,""
    according to his advisors, and very helpful for opening new
    possibilities for political resolution.  His message to
    Netanyahu was appreciation for recognition of a two state

    ROME 00000752  003 OF 005

    solution, and the clear modification of his policies that
    this entailed.  Napolitano believes that talk of a settlement
    will give new strength to Fatah, which can represent itself
    as the party that can deliver peace, and which may in turn
    cause the two Palestinian camps to talk and reconcile.
    President Napolitano will likely ask your advice and views of
    how Italy can be helpful to this situation.

    ¶11. (U) The May 2008 Turin book fair celebrated the 60th
    anniversary of Israel by featuring Israeli writers, and
    sparked a noisy controversy in which some protesters called
    for a boycott of the fair and questioned Israel's legitimacy.
     Napolitano in typical fashion calmly waded into the fray,
    using the moral authority of his office to express his
    solidarity with Israel in an appearance at the Fair's
    opening, and saying ""Italy is working to defend Israel's
    right to live in peace.""

    ------
    Syria
    ------

    ¶12. (C) In light of his desire to be helpful, President
    Napolitano will also ask your views on whether to accept an
    invitation to visit Syria.  While he regards the Asad regime
    as problematic,  Napolitano does not believe democracy can be
    imposed from without, and feels that isolating Syria only
    reinforces its relations with Iran.  Thus he will welcome
    your decision to engage Damascus directly and to return an
    ambassador to Syria.  Italy (unlike most EU states)
    maintained high-level contacts with Syria even after the
    Hariri assassination in 2005, but Napolitano has hesitated to
    offer the gesture of a state visit.

    -----
    Iraq
    -----

    ¶13. (C) Having been a partner with the US in the war in Iraq,
    Napolitano is now in agreement with you on a troop pullout,
    and sees more propitious conditions there to enable this to
    go forward.

    ------------
    Afghanistan
    ------------

    ¶14. (C) Napolitano regards Afghanistan as an historical
    challenge.  Despite the many past failures of major powers,
    he feels that to leave the country to fall into the hands of
    fundamentalists is not a choice.  The government has offered
    525 new troops for Afghanistan through the fall, as well as a
    total of 200 Carabinieri trainers.  President Napolitano will
    appreciate your perspective on how we view the evolving
    international military and civilian effort there meeting the
    challenges you outlined in your March speech.

    -----
    Iran
    -----

    ¶15. (C) Napolitano believes you have been right to open the
    door to Iran, and to have kept some distance in your public
    commentary from events in the post election period; to do
    otherwise would have been ""to weaken the opposition by
    supporting it,"" in the words of Napolitano's diplomatic
    advisor.  Napolitano may wish to discuss nuclear
    proliferation and disarmament.  On sanctions, Italy has been
    a sometimes-reluctant player, although following your June 15
    meeting with PM Berlusconi, Berlusconi subsequently put the
    chairman of parastatal energy company ENI on notice not to
    pursue new deals for the time being.

    -------
    Turkey
    -------

    ¶16. (C) President Napolitano is a frequent traveler to

    ROME 00000752  004 OF 005

    Turkey, and has plans to visit there in November.  He shares
    the official GOI positive view of EU enlargement to Turkey,
    while recognizing that much advance work needs to be done.
    He feels that passage of the Lisbon Treaty is key to further
    enlargement, however, without which he believes the EU will
    lose consistency.  In countering the view of some that the
    European Union is and should remain a fundamentally Christian
    union, he points to the ancient Romans, who brought their
    laws to many provinces, not all of whom shared the same faith.

    -------
    Russia
    --------

    ¶17. (C) President Napolitano regards the relationship with
    Russia as a strategic partnership on which the EU should act
    together and speak with one voice. On this he is joined by
    virtually the entire Italian political class. He believes,
    however, that Russia must be supported in its democratic
    processes.  He appreciates your shift in tone and pragmatic
    approach to dealing with Moscow, and particularly your stance
    on support for a missile defense system that is
    ""cost-effective and proven.""

    --------------------------------------------- -
    Global Financial Crisis and the Role of the G8
    --------------------------------------------- --

    ¶18. (SBU) In his London speech Napolitano called for Europe
    to contribute significantly to addressing problems underlying
    the crisis and to involve a greater number of nations in the
    effort.  While philosophically inclined to work via larger
    groupings, Italy has often pushed its international economic
    reform initiatives via the more exclusive G8 mechanism, where
    it perhaps believes it can better influence the agenda.

    ¶19. (U) Napolitano has remained in the background as regards
    the day-to-day management of the global economic downturn and
    its effects on Italy.  The government's main focus initially
    was bolstering public confidence in Italy's banking sector,
    which dominates the market for capital.  Italy's stimulus
    efforts have been modest, given the government's already
    excessive public debt.  The crisis has prompted some
    respected figures to call for reform of Italy's unsustainable
    model of high taxes and social spending which has stunted
    growth for the better part of this decade.

    -----------------------------------
    Napolitano-Berlusconi Relationship
    -----------------------------------

    ¶20. (C) We understand that PM Berlusconi respects Napolitano,
    although the two come from very different backgrounds and do
    not have a close personal relationship.  Napolitano is much
    closer to Chamber President (and occasional Berlusconi
    critic) Gianfranco Fini, and these two often find themselves
    on the same side of political debates in defending the
    institutions of the Italian state. Napolitano became the
    object of attacks from Berlusconi proxies during the debate
    over an end-of-life case involving a young woman who had
    spent years on life support.  Nonetheless, at the time of
    Napolitano's election, Berlusconi refrained from throwing out
    anti-Communist attacks, as he has done with others of
    Napolitano's background. Napolitano publicly has said he is
    not opposed to the immunity law that protects Berlusconi from
    prosecution, and in June he declared the tone of the campaign
    for the European Parliament elections overheated amidst a
    storm of personal attacks against Berlusconi.

    ¶21. (C) On immigration, without directly criticizing the
    Berlusconi government's tough policy, this spring Napolitano
    underscored that it is Italy's and Europe's responsibility to
    help with the humanitarian emergencies driving immigrants to
    leave their homes, and warned that despite the economic
    crisis, Italy must continue to follow its laws and stay true
    to its values as it deals with immigration.  In taking this
    stance Napolitano is at odds with many of Italy's
    center-right leaders, who have largely created a false link
    in the public's mind between crime and illegal immigration.

    ROME 00000752  005 OF 005

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    Biographic Sketch
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    ¶22. (U) Napolitano is a veteran politician who earned his
    political stripes early with his active opposition to
    fascism during World War II. A native of Naples, during the
    Allied occupation of Italy during World War II, he worked
    for the allied forces, learning excellent English. In 1945,
    he joined the Italian Communist Party and was first elected
    to Parliament in 1953 under its banner. He rose through PCI
    ranks, eventually becoming a member of its National Committee
    and one of the party's most influential members. While in
    Parliament, he focused on policy toward southern Italy; for a
    time he managed the PCI's economic policy, and later focused
    on foreign policy.

    ¶23. (C) A moderate in PCI, Napolitano was the first Communist
    member of Parliament with which the US Embassy in
    Rome met. In 2001, he told an interviewer that he strongly
    opposed the link between Italy's far left and domestic
    terrorism, as well as the anti-Americanism within the PCI in
    the 1970s and 1980s. Napolitano abruptly resigned from
    the party in 1989 (and was one of the first senior leaders to
    do so), saying that it needed serious reform to
    reflect global realities and to bring it closer to social
    democracy. He was instrumental in hastening PCI's eventual
    demise in 1991, and its transformation into the more moderate
    Democratic Party of the Left, a predecessor to
    today's Democratic Party. During his long tenure in
    Parliament--including as President of the Chamber of
    Deputies (1992-94)--Napolitano served in the Foreign Affairs
    Committee, was a member of Italy's NATO delegation,
    and presided over the Special Commission for the
    Reorganization of radio and Television. He also served as
    Minister of the Interior (1996-98), as well as two stints in
    the European Parliament (1989-92, 1999-2004). In 2005,
    President Ciampi named Napolitano Senator for Life, a
    distinction reserved only for Italians who have served
    either as President of the Republic or who have performed an
    extraordinary service to the nation.
    DIBBLE
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