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ONE’s Eloise Todd asks Berlusconi a question
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Yesterday, ONE’s own Eloise Todd got a chance to ask Prime Minister Berlusconi a question- in Italian- during a press conference at the G8 Summit in Italy. It was a great moment. You can check out the video here (about 2/3 of the way through). Transcript below!
Question to Prime Minister Berlusconi:
I was present when Bob Geldof interviewed you last week. You said ‘I’m sorry for not having kept my promises’. What will you do this week to reverse the aid cut of €411m and what additional funds will you give on top of this to the G8 initiative on agriculture?
Prime Minister Berlusconi’s response (summary):
We were responsible for creating the Global Fund in Genoa in 2001, which has so far saved the lives of 4 million people. Because of the current economic crisis it is harder to balance our budget, and we know we are late in our payments to the global fund. But by the end of the year we will pay the 130m we owe as well as the 30m extra requested by the fund to cover shortfalls. We recommitted to our aid promises and tomorrow we will present an agriculture initiative and Italy will play its part.
The ONE verdict? Well, he clearly didn’t answer the question. But we remain hopeful there’s a rabbit in the hat from Italy which means they will pledge more than the 411m they cut. At least the question showed the Prime Minister, and the audience, that we are watching and we will not give up. And hopefully a few of the folks watching the live broadcast on Italian TV will also be curious to find out when he really gives an answer to those questions.
As we enter into Day 3 of the G8 Summit, we’ll have more from on the ground soon!
-Jessica Gomez-Duran
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The International ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, with guest contributions from ONE volunteers, members and allies.
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05/08/2009 at 6:14 am
Where is the debate about not just saving lives but taking care of overpopulation and erosion caused by herding goats and other animals?
I do not think food medicine and saving lives is the only way to solve the problem.
Money is not everything, sustainability is more important and supporting self help and stop rich countries exploiting the poor ones.