Among the few foreign leaders present at Silvio Berlusconi’s state funeral are historic friends and the entire G7, who has met and known dozens of world rulers over 30 years of politics. But those times are long gone. And only three heads of state attended the funeral in Milan Cathedral: Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, and both captains of the Republic of San Marino, Alessandro Scarano and Adele Tonini, President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella Sitting in the first row with
In the second row, only Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Albanian one Edi Rama are present among the heads of government. From Europe, European People’s Party President Manfred Weber attended the funeral, while at the request of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – engaged in a mission in Latin America – the EU executive was represented by the Commissioner for the Economy. Paolo Gentiloni.
The rest of the world has decided to send ministers, diplomats and other representatives to pay their last respects to the knight. Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is particularly close to Berlusconi, also sent his recently appointed foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, along with Omer Celik, a spokesman for the president’s AKP party. Croatia, Tunisia, Malta and Kosovo have also sent their heads of diplomacy. Also present were representatives of the governments of Armenia, the Netherlands, Serbia, an envoy from Japan, ambassadors and charge d’affaires.
From the list of participants in the funeral, there is a great international absence, especially the leaders of Rome’s historical allies: France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, more than the presence of other European and Western countries.
Then there are the leaders with whom he shares his political history: Bush, Blair, Merkel, Sarkozy. Finally, the conspicuous absence of his friend Vladimir Putin, who expressed words of pain, affection and respect for Berlusconi on the occasion of his death. But now the Russian president is hostile to Italy and the West has allied with Kiev against the invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin chief is therefore careful not to travel to Milan, where in addition he would risk arrest: in fact, he has a pending international arrest warrant for war crimes charges for deporting Ukrainian children to Russia.