Archive for July 10th, 2009
Berlusconi accusato di spiare le conversazioni al G8, sull’Independent.
The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was at the receiving end of an unusual allegation yesterday when a senior Italian official claimed the Italian delegation had been secretly bugging the deliberations at the G8 summit – which protocol dictates are kept firmly off the record – to help Mr Berlusconi keep up. The Financial Times reported on its website that the official, who wished to remain anonymous, had reported that aides to the Italian team had been listening to the proceedings through headphones in rooms near the conference rooms. The confidentiality of the discussions is upheld each year. The only recent breach to have come to the media’s attention occurred when the then US president, George Bush, greeted the then British prime minister with the immortal words: “Yo Blair, how you doing?” at the St Petersburg G8 summit in July 2006. But a document referring to the recording suggested the Italians were unaware that they were committing a faux pas, believing only that they were introducing a novelty which should be kept quiet so that others did not request a listening service too. “Pay attention not to tell the other delegations about our facility,” warned the note, “otherwise they will all want it, and that is not possible”. The point of the recordings, it was suggested, was to enable the Italian summit sherpas to help Mr Berlusconi, who is the chairman of the plenary events, keep up to speed. But some Italian officials objected to the plan, claiming that it was tantamount to spying. The allegations were rejected by Mr Berlusconi’s spokesman, Marco Ventura: “What they say remains in the room. There is no channel of communication between the leaders and the outside, except for the digital pens.” Traditionally, the pens are the only form of communication permitted between the conference room and the aides outside. Mr Ventura continued: “There will not be any sort of secret channel between the president of the G8 [Mr Berlusconi] different from others.”
Gli italiani e gli auricolari, sul Mirror.
The G8 summit was rocked by a spy row yesterday amid claims the Italians wanted to use headphones to listen in on other negotiations. Aides of President Silvio Berlusconi, 72, were also alleged to have looked into using an audio link to transmit advice to him. The talks between world leaders are meant to be kept secret, with no recording or notes and each head of state accompanied by a single aide. Spokesman Marco Ventura denied there was an audio link. He said: “What they say remains in the room.” Asked if there was talk of a special link, he refused to comment.
Italiani accusati di “origliare” il G8, sul Daily Mail.
An extraordinary row has broken out at the G8 summit after Italian aides were accused of spying on secret meetings between other countries’ leaders. A team has been listening in through headphones on private sessions between various heads of state. Diplomatic meetings are traditionally held in the greatest secrecy to ensure they are kept confidential. Both conventional note-taking and recording are banned. Instead each leader is accompanied by an aide – known as the Sherpa – who relays messages to those outside the room through a digital pen. This contains a camera and wireless transmitter. Pictures are automatically taken of the user’s writing and then transmitted. In addition, images from the meetings are also broadcast on a video scene without sound. Messages to those outside the room are usually relayed through a digital pen. Delegates’ mouths are blacked out so words cannot be lip-read. But the Italians have breached strict protocol by covertly listening in on the meetings as well. It seems the operation has already raised concern among the host nation. A leaked memo warns the team responsible for the surveillance to ensure that no one else found out about the operation.
‘Pay attention not to tell the other delegations about our facility, otherwise they will all want it and that is not possible,’ it read.
Mr Berlusconi’s spokesman Marco Ventura has denied there was an audio link. ‘What they say remains in the room,’ he said. ‘There is no channel of communication between the leaders and the outside, except for the digital pens. ‘There will not be any sort of secret channel between the president of the G8 different from the others.’ There is only one occasion when previous occasion when secrecy at the G8 has been breached. That was when a microphone picked up an exchange between George Bush and Tony Blair at St Petersburg in 2006.
Berlusconi “spione”, su El Mundo.
La notizia del collegamento audio con la sala dei Grandi, è stata ripresa, tra gli altri, da El Mundo. Qui il pezzo.
Microfoni segreti nella sala del G8? Il piano.
Il pezzo, pubblicato sul Financial Times del 10 luglio, che riferisce di un collegamento audio installato nella stanza dei Grandi. Notizia smentita da Palazzo Chigi. Smentita più di forma che di sostanza. Visto che l’audio è rimasto attivo durante tutta la durata del vertice.
Italians listen in to closed G8 talks
By Guy Dinmore in L’Aquila and Marco Pasqua in Rome
Published: July 8 2009 19:50 | Last updated: July 8 2009 23:33
Whenever G8 leaders gather for their annual talks, an elaborate ritual unfolds to ensure that the conversations within this elite club are kept confidential. There will be no recording or note-taking of their deliberations, and each head of government is accompanied by just one aide, the “Sherpa”, who is allowed to communicate with those outside the closed room only through a digital pen. It is a process that has been respected each year – only once, in St Petersburg in 2006, when a microphone picked up an exchange between then US president George W. Bush and Tony Blair, British prime minister at the time, has part of their conversation leaked out – and the Italian presidency insists that there is no change in procedure this time. But the Financial Times has learned from a senior official, who requested anonymity, that Italian aides did listen to Wednesday’s proceedings through headphones from nearby rooms. A document obtained by the FT, written earlier by a member of the organising team, urged discretion. “Pay attention not to tell the other delegations about our facility, otherwise they will all want it and that is not possible,” it read.
Plans to install the secret link caused concern among some Italian officials, who said it amounted to spying. The purpose of the audio link appeared to be to transmit quicker advice, via the Sherpa, to Silvio Berlusconi, chairman of the talks. Marco Ventura, spokesman for the prime minister’s office, flatly denied there was an audio link. “What they say remains in the room. There is no channel of communication between the leaders and the outside, except for the digital pens,” he said. “There will not be any sort of secret channel between the president of the G8 [Mr Berlusconi] different from the others.” Asked if there had been talk of a special link, Mr Ventura did not comment. Even more strange, a witness said, was the presence in the high-security area of Bruno Vespa, a veteran television host favoured by Mr Berlusconi, most recently in explaining his friendship with an 18-year-old model which led his wife to ask for a divorce. Mr Ventura denied Mr Vespa had been able to listen to the confidential talks.
