Berlusconi sneers at Finland - once again

Italian Prime Minister draws comparison between Finnish wooden church and architecture in Rome

Silvio Berlusconi

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The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, famed for his gaffes and outspoken remarks, has once again ridiculed Finland.
      Berlusconi, who appeared in Rome yesterday as a guest of the Mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno, praised the beauty and the cultural heritage of the Italian capital. To further emphasise his point, Berlusconi compared Rome with Finland.
      “Can you imagine, when I was in Finland they took me to see an 18th century wooden church. I remember how important this was to them. We woke up early in the morning and travelled to the church for three hours. Over here such a church would have been bulldozed to the ground”, Berlusconi said, drawing an X sign in the air with his hands.
     
The Prime Minister continued by saying that he did not want to go further than this, because he liked Finland and Finnish women. Encouraged by the press conference audience’s laughter, the Prime Minister continued:
      “I failed to complete the sentence. I was going to say, I love Finnish women so long as they are of age.”
      With this joke Berlusconi referred to his ongoing divorce battle, which in recent days has been the most talked-about item in the Italian media.
      Berlusconi’s wife Veronica Lario announced on Sunday that she would be filing for divorce from her 72-year-old husband.
      “I cannot be with a man who spends time with underage women”, Lario has told the news agency Ansa.
     
Berlusconi is renowned the world over for his diplomatic blunders and weird comments. The Finns are in good company.
      Nevertheless, Finnish food does seem to be one of his pet hates. On several occasions the Italian Prime Minister has commented on how he has had to put up with Finnish food each time he has visited the country.
     
In the 2005 inaugural ceremony of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in Parma, Italy, Berlusconi bragged about having used “playboy tactics” on the Finnish President Tarja Halonen to persuade Finland to allow Italy to play host to the agency.
      The dispute between Finland and Italy over the location of the EFSA dragged on for several years and took place on the prime ministerial level. Halonen did not have a noteworthy role to play in the matter.
     
Already in 2001 Berlusconi ruffled Finnish feathers by saying that the food agency could not possibly be situated in a country where people do not even know what Parma prosciutto ham is.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Foreign Ministry summons Italian Ambassador over Berlusconi comments (23.6.2005)
  Berlusconi says he used "playboy skills" in contest with Finland over Food Authority (22.6.2005)

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