A Lapdog Bares its Fangs

Silvio Berlusconi lobbied long and hard for this hour of glory. It was in Rome in 1957, after all, that six European leaders signed the founding treaty of the European Economic Community — the forerunner of today's European Union — so the Italian Prime Minister wanted the leaders of the 25 member states to return to the Eternal City to sign the European Constitution. On Friday they came, and Berlusconi made the most of it. With famed filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli directing the live television coverage, Berlusconi led his European colleagues through a carefully choreographed ceremony at Rome's historic Campidoglio city hall....

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