by Francesca Di Meglio

These misgivings combined with a poor economy and a desire on the part of the Italian public to pull out of U.S.-led efforts in Iraq might end up being the lethal combination that kills Berlusconi's political aspirations. Since the introduction of the euro, the Italian economy has stalled even though other European nations are beginning to thrive. Much of this has to do with the fact that Italians hiked prices when the euro arrived. Add the threat of terrorism and a world at war to the mix, and the economy took even bigger dives. A recent article in Time even suggested that Italy has replaced Spain as Europe's poor cousin. So far, Berlusconi has been unable to deliver on his promises of helping the economy bounce back.

But the people seem most betrayed by Italy's unflagging support of President George W. Bush and the U.S.'s efforts in Iraq, even though Berlusconi has suggested that he wants to pull out the troops in September 2005. With 3,000 military men and women in Iraq, Italy is the third-largest force among U.S. allies, behind Great Britain and South Korea. So far, 28 Italians died in the conflict, including 21 military personnel attacked by a suicide bomber in November 2003.

Recently, American soldiers at a security checkpoint mistakenly killed Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari, while he was rescuing Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who had been taken hostage by an insurgent group in Iraq while researching a story.

The Italian and U.S. governments have written conflicting reports about what truly led to Calipari's untimely death - whether it was the fault of the U.S. troops who failed to warn the Italians or the Italians who might not have announced their arrival, nor stopped at the security check. These differing accounts are inciting more protests among Italians, many of whom think there should never have been a conflict in Iraq in the first place. Over the weekend new evidence came out, from the outgoing head of the Italian Red Cross Maurizio Scelli, suggesting that his organization made deals with Iraqi insurgents to get the release of two young women hostages Simona Pari and Simona Torretta - and that Calipari had played a major role in the negotiating. Scelli added that the Italian government was aware of the deals and that it was decided to keep this information secret from the United States.

If this turns out to be true, Italy will have a hard time making amends with the United States, which has stated unequivocally on many occasions that U.S. supporters are not to negotiate with terrorists who kidnap civilians and innocents. The two countries are already struggling over Italian allegations that U.S. Central Intelligence agents kidnapped a radical Muslim cleric in Italy to interrogate him without getting authorization from Italian officials. About 19 CIA agents were considered fugitives in Italy after the row.

The growing resentment of the Italian public might lead to Berlusconi's fall when the country heads to the ballots to elect a prime minister in 2006. However, his center-right coalition had a little success on May 18, when it won the crucial election of Umberto Scapagnini as mayor of Catania in Sicily, the most significant of 38 mayoral seats that were up for grabs on May 18 and 19. "For [Berlusconi's] leadership, it was the most important victory since 2001," according to an editorial in the major Italian daily Corriere della Sera. Still, however, Prodi's coalition won the other important seat in nearby Enna.

Recently, Berlusconi reportedly got an eye lift to win votes with an Italian public obsessed with youth, beauty and the bella figura. But the Italians are clearly sending the message that the economy and foreign policy are the ones that need a lift if Berlusconi hopes to get re-elected next year.

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