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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 
 
 


 
------------------ 
Biographic Sketch 
------------------ 
 

¶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 
"