ITALY: ITALIAN PM SILVIO BERLUSCONI URGES FRENCH PEOPLE TO VOTE 'YES' IN UPCOMING EU CONSTITUTION REFERENDUM DURING JOINT NEWS CONFERENCE IN ROME WITH BRITISH PM TONY BLAIR

Record ID: 328652

  • Title: ITALY: ITALIAN PM SILVIO BERLUSCONI URGES FRENCH PEOPLE TO VOTE 'YES' IN UPCOMING EU CONSTITUTION REFERENDUM DURING JOINT NEWS CONFERENCE IN ROME WITH BRITISH PM TONY BLAIR
  • Date: 27th May 2005
  • Summary: (EU) ROME, ITALY (MAY 27, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. WS: MEDIA AT PRESS CONFERENCE WAITING FOR LEADERS 0.04 2. ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER SILVIO BERLUSCONI AND BRITISH PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE 0.16 3. CU: MEDIA LISTENING 0.18 4. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER SILVIO BERLUSCONI SAYING: "We repeat our invitation for a 'Yes' to the new European constitution because it will make Europe stronger and give it an even greater role on the global stage." 0.41 5. WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE 0.43 6. OFFICIALS LISTENING 0.45 7. (SOUNDBITE) BRITISH PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR SAYING: "Our position on the British membership in the single currency hasn't changed. In order for us to recommend that the economic conditions we laid down would have to be met. And as I have always said about the single currency, of course there is a political aspect to it but it is primarily an economic union and therefore the economics have got to be in the right place and at the present time they are not, for Europe." 1.14 8. CAMERA OPERATOR 1.17 9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BLAIR SAYING: "The big issue that faces our citizens now in Europe is how do we increase our prosperity in an era of globalisation, in an era of an intense competition, not just within Europe - but outside of Europe, and countries like China and India, each of them with a population double the population of the whole of Europe, are going to be competing fiercely with Europe and Europe's economy. So we have to modernise our economy in order to meet that challenge." 1.56 10. CUTAWAY 1.56 11. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) BERLUSCONI SAYING: "They take our designs and copy them, in different conditions without respecting Italian and European laws and with very low labour costs ....creating difficulties that are not easy to overcome, that can only be overcome by modernising our productive system with greater introduction of technology." 2.39 12. WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE / CU PEOPLE LISTENING (2 SHOTS) 2.45 13. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BLAIR SAYING: "The purpose of the plan for Africa this year, however, is to try and put all the different aspects of the problem of Africa - not just that of aid and debt but also that of governance and conflict - to put all those items together in a comprehensive plan that allows us to help that continent which is the only continent anywhere in the world that has gone backwards in the last thirty years." 3.17 14. WS: BLAIR AND BERLUSCONI LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE 3.29 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 11th June 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ROME, ITALY
  • Country: Italy
  • Reuters ID: LVA23XZOQPJ1WS7B0L2K6HHWN13L
  • Story Text: Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi urges the French people
    to vote 'yes' in Sunday's referendum.


    Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi urged the
    French people to vote 'Yes' in Sunday's referendum on the
    European Union constitution. Latest polls showed French voters
    were set to reject the constitution, a move that is likely
    to usher in a period of political uncertainty.

    Berlusconi said on Friday (May 27) he would have more to say
    after the referendum, but he hoped for a 'Yes' vote.

    "We repeat our invitation for a "Yes" to the new European
    constitution because it will make Europe stronger and give it
    an even greater role on the global stage," he said in a joint
    press conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

    European leaders signed the constitution in Rome in October
    last year.

    Treaty supporters say rejection would kill the constitution
    and weaken France within Europe while opponents say a 'No'
    vote would force the Union to redraft the treaty to boost
    protection for social services and workers threatened by globalisation.

    Blair arrived in Italy on Friday at the start of a major
    diplomatic effort ahead of July's G8 summit to press for
    agreement on Africa and climate change which experts say
    looks elusive on both fronts.

    "The purpose of the plan for Africa this year, however, is
    to try and put all the different aspects of the problem of
    Africa - not just that of aid and debt but also that of
    governance and conflict - to put all those items together
    in a comprehensive plan that allows us to help that continent
    which is the only continent anywhere in the world that has
    gone backwards in the last thirty years", Blair said.

    At a joint news conference in Rome, the two leaders said they
    have also discussed bilateral issues and the European economy.

    "The big issue that faces our citizens now in Europe is how do
    we increase our prosperity in an era of globalisation, in an
    era of an intense competition, not just within Europe - but
    outside of Europe, and countries like China and India, each of
    them with a population double the population of the whole of
    Europe, are going to be competing fiercely with Europe and
    Europe's economy. So we have to modernise our economy in order
    to meet that challenge", Blair said.

    "They take our designs and copy them, in different conditions
    without respecting Italian and european laws and with very low
    labour costs ....creating difficulties that are not easy to
    overcome, that can only be overcome by modernising our productive
    system with greater introduction of technology", Berlusconi
    said.. Before the G8 summit, Blair will also visit Moscow and
    Washington, will see French President Jacques Chirac and German
    Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, and hold video conferences with
    the Prime ministers of Canada and Japan.

    As part of Britain's G8 chairmanship this year, Blair will host
    the leaders of the Group of Eight countries -- Britain, Canada,
    France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States --
    at Gleneagles in Scotland from July 6-8.

    Aid agencies have been pressing the prime minister to make such
    an effort, worried that no progress has been made in recent months
    on either climate change or aid and debt relief to help Africa out
    of poverty. Blair has staked his international reputation on making
    a breakthrough on both fronts.

    But Washington has refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol, which aims
    to curb emissions of so-called greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide,
    even disputing the science of the debate.

    Earlier this month, Bush's chief climate negotiator Harlan Watson
    said he was not convinced of the need to move quickly to combat
    climate change, deepening environmentalists' fears that the summit
    will make no concrete progress.

    The Bush administration -- and other governments -- have also
    poured cold water on UK finance minister Gordon Brown's plan for
    an "International Finance Facility", that would double aid for
    poor countries by issuing bonds against rich countries' future
    aid budgets.


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