In new york, despite his remarks about mussolini, the italian head of government receives an award from the jewish organization anti-defamation league for his loyalty to the united states and israel
An unusual number of heads of government meet in new york this time to discuss the future of the international organization and iraq during the UN general assembly. U.S. President bush has already made his request that the international community of the U.S. Should provide stronger support in the reconstruction, the UN secretary general warned against the prevention strategy practiced by the U.S. Government, which would blow up the united nations. Bush meets with schroder. The head of the italian government, silvio berlusconi, who is a popular figure in the white house, also gave a speech and took the opportunity to accept an award for his active opposition to anti-semitism.
Berlusconi, who shortly before had appeared on italian television as sanger, kept to his role as holder of the EU presidency during his speech. He called for the strengthening of the UN, the security council and international agreements, and identified terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction as two of the greatest threats to peace and development. Contrary to the prevention strategy, he stressed that when all political and diplomatic means have been exhausted, recourse to force legitimized by the UN should not be ruled out. In the case of iraq, he held back diplomatically and avoided minefields. The UN plays an important role, a new government must be elected democratically, the council is a first step to that end. He also called for support for reconstruction at the donor countries conference in madrid.