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P 221106Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY ROME
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1354
INFO RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1541
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 2491
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN PRIORITY 1881
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 1848
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 4491
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 1970
RUEHMIL/AMCONSUL MILAN PRIORITY 9725
RUEHFL/AMCONSUL FLORENCE PRIORITY 3352
RUEHNP/AMCONSUL NAPLES PRIORITY 3518
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY 4722
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ROME 001552 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E STAFF FOR AMY WESTLING 
P STAFF FOR DAVID VAN CLEVE 
EEB/EPPD FOR SANDRA CLARK 
NSC FOR PAUL BROWN AND MICHAEL SMART 
A/EX/PTS FOR CHRIS SZYMANSKY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON OTRA OVIP ASEC AORC IT
SUBJECT: G8 COMMISSIONER BERTOLASO ON SUMMIT LOGISTICS 
 
REF: ROME DAILY REPORT 12-5-08 
 
¶1. (U) Sensitive but Unclassified.  Please Protect 
Accordingly. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Summary: G8 Summit Commissioner Guido Bertolaso, 
Prime Minister Berlusconi's Commissioner in charge of 
logistics for the July 8-10 2009 Summit at La Maddalena, told 
the DCM on December 19 that construction of the two hotels 
and convention center for the Summit will be completed by May 
¶2009.  Delegate overflow will be accommodated on a cruise 
ship and in hotels on the Costa Smeralda of Sardinia (about 
15-30 minutes by boat from La Maddalena), although he 
understood that U.S. security concerns preclude lodging the 
U.S. President on a ship.  He dismissed press reports that 
Berlusconi is planning on hosting the G8 leaders in Rome 
after the Summit.  The apron at the International Airport at 
Olbia is being extended by 300 meters and G8 leaders will be 
transported from there to La Maddalena by helicopter. End 
Summary. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The DCM, Management MinCouns and Poloff met on 
December 19 with Guido Bertolaso, Director of the Prime 
Minister's Civil Defense Department and G8 Summit 
Commissioner, and Marta Di Gennaro, his Deputy in charge of 
G8 preparations.   Bertolaso, who has held the position since 
2001, has overall responsibility for disaster preparedness 
and major international events on Italian soil, such as the 
NATO Pratica di Mare Summit of 2002 and the funeral of Pope 
John Paul II.  He currently holds responsibility for the G8 
Summit preparations at La Maddalena, Sardinia, and, as 
Undersecretary for the Campania Region, has had the lead on 
the Naples garbage crisis. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The DCM thanked him for his help facilitating the 
work of the U.S. Navy Health Assessment team in Naples and 
for his close cooperation with the Embassy over the past 
seven years.  She asked how summit preparations were going 
and inquired about press reports that PM Berlusconi is 
planning on hosting G8 leaders on a cruise ship or in Rome 
after the Summit.  Bertolaso said that he was aware of U.S. 
concerns about lodging the President on a ship and assured us 
that this would not happen.  While he did not rule out 
bilateral meetings in Rome with some G8 leaders, he said that 
accommodating the entire group in Rome or elsewhere would be 
logistically impossible and would not hesitate to tell 
Berlusconi so if the situation required it. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Bertolaso said construction at the summit site had 
been difficult but would be finished by May 2009.  La 
Maddalena, the largest of an archipelago of islands off the 
northeast coast of Sardinia, is home to an Italian naval base 
(and, until February 2008, a U.S. Submarine Tender base) and 
has therefore never developed a sizeable hotel and tourism 
infrastructure.  The government is building two new five-star 
hotels and a convention center on the site of the Italian 
base.  Bertolaso suggested we would be able to choose the 
venue that would best suit our delegation.  The hotels will 
be large, but space allotments for each delegation will 
depend upon how many delegations the GOI decides to invite 
("I can't accommodate a 500 member delegation in the hotels") 
although there would be facilities for overflow, including 
two five-star hotels, on the main island of Sardinia.  There 
will be a secure "red zone," as in the 2001 Genoa Summit, and 
barriers to protect ships in the harbor. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Delegate and staff overflow will be housed in the 
hotels along the Costa Smeralda (Emerald Coast), the 
north-east shore of Sardinia that faces La Maddalena, and on 
the 1,600-cabin mega-cruise ship "MSC Fantasia" that the GOI 
has chartered for the Summit.  (Note: At the December 4 press 
conference officially announcing the summit venue and format 
(REF A), Bertolaso said that the GOI's goal was to 
accommodate up to thirty national and institutional 
 
ROME 00001552  002 OF 002 
 
 
delegations, 4,500 delegates, 4,500 press and 2,000 support 
personnel.  The press will be housed in Olbia, a port and 
airport hub about 30 miles south of La Maddalena). 
 
¶7. (SBU) Bertolaso said the apron at the Olbia International 
Airport, where all delegation flights will arrive, can 
currently accommodate an Air Force One-sized aircraft, but 
will nevertheless be expanded by an additional 300 meters. 
He indicated that many delegation flights will have to drop 
off delegations at Olbia and transit to Decimomannu Air Force 
Base (a 15 minute flight south) to park.  Heads of government 
will transit from Olbia to La Maddalena by helicopter. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Comment: Bertolaso, who also heads the Prime 
Minister's Emergency Management Office (FEMA equivalent) and 
has overall responsibility for the Naples garbage crisis, has 
a reputation for getting difficult things done and has the 
legal authority to override Italian building and 
environmental regulations to prepare for the Summit. 
However, as the director of the equivalent of FEMA, his time 
and energies have been split between the summit, the Naples 
garbage crisis, flooding in Rome and avalanches in the Alps. 
GOI budget cuts have not made his work easier.  Bertolaso 
himself has told Parliament that the estimated Euro 400 
million Summit construction project could face significant 
cost overruns and schedule delays.  Shortly after his meeting 
with the DCM he told the press that he would resign if 
Parliament did not grant his 2009 budget request, prompting 
Berlusconi to make public assurances that his needs would be 
met.  Bertolaso is clearly the right person for the job, but 
whether he can deliver the Summit that Berlusconi wants in an 
austere budget environment is still open to question.  The 
Embassy plans to make an initial trip to La Maddalena January 
12-13 to survey the site.  End Comment. 
SPOGLI