Sweden criticizes Berlusconi's 'mistaken' remarks on Gaddafi

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Sweden criticizes Berlusconi's 'mistaken' remarks on Gaddafi
Mar 12, 2011, 8:50 GMT

Godollo, Hungary - Sweden's foreign minister said Saturday that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was wrong to criticize a European Union demand to have the International Criminal Court investigate war crimes committed by Libya's leader Moamer Gaddafi.

Berlusconi had said Friday that the EU request, taken up by the United Nations Security Council last month, pushed Gaddafi further into a corner, making it more difficult for him to step down peacefully.

'I think it is a mistake by Prime Minister Berlusconi to question decisions that he's been part of himself,' Carl Bildt said, speaking on the margins of informal talks with EU counterparts in Godollo, Hungary.

Berlusconi had made the remarks about Gaddafi after an EU summit in Brussels dedicated to the Libyan crisis.

Read more: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/africa/news/article_1625513.php/Sweden-criticizes-Berlusconi-s-mistaken-remarks-on-Gaddafi

[pampango]

1. West may have miscalculated with Gaddafi - Berlusconi

http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE72A24U20110311

The hardline stance taken by major powers against Muammar Gaddafi may have backed the Libyan leader into a corner and prevented a quiet exit, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Friday. Speaking after a special meeting of EU leaders, Berlusconi, one of Gaddafi's closest friends in Europe until the current upheaval, said the chances of persuading him to give up power voluntarily now appeared to have disappeared.

"Once someone put forward the idea of bringing Gaddafi before the International Criminal Court, I think the idea of staying in power became entrenched with him and I don't think anyone can make him change his mind," he told reporters.

Asked whether the possibility remained that Gaddafi might be persuaded to go into exile, Berlusconi, who last spoke to the Libyan leader two weeks ago, said: "I don't think, following this position and let's say this loss of legitimacy with all his international interlocutors, I don't think this possibility remains any more."

EU leaders demanded on Friday that Gaddafi stop using force against Libyan rebels and called for him to step down, declaring that he could no longer be considered a proper interlocutor. Officials from the international war crimes tribunal are investigating whether to lay charges against Gaddafi for his crackdown against opponents, with reports of hundreds killed in nearly a month of unrest.

[zonkers]

2. Berlusconi ought to join him in exile.