transcript

This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI's THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI's THE WORLD is the program audio.

LISA MULLINS: The upcoming meeting this summertime of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations was supposed to be held on the picturesque Italian island of La Maddalena. The plan was for world leaders to overnight aboard luxury cruise ships that were anchored in the Mediterranean. Well, Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had a better idea. He decided to move the G-8 summit to L'Acquila. That's the mountain town which was devastated by an earthquake just last month. The quake left nearly 300 people dead. It drove 50,000 people from their homes. John Hooper reports from Italy for Britain's Guardian newspaper. Silvio Berlusconi, John, is asking world leaders to – as the phrase goes – slum it. How come?

JOHN HOOPER: Well, he has lined up for them accommodations in the married quarters of a police school just outside L'Acquila. There are still aftershocks in this area, but one of the buildings that's come through completely intact is this vast complex outside, which is used to train non-commissioned officers in one of the Italian police forces. And he's decided that heads of State if they wish to be, can be accommodated there, in a building that looks to me like well upscale projects, I think is being even a little generous.

MULLINS: So they will be giving up, for instance, as you have reported, complimentary bath salts and the choice between goose feather and foam pillows. But what do they get instead?

HOOPER: Yes. They will get, apparently, a measure of luxury in these buildings. They may not be very beautiful from the outside, but I'm told that a team of architects has been brought in from Milan to just take the edge off it. This is a pretty grim complex. There's a large parade ground in the middle. Most of the buildings are kind of an institutional gray, and I think the leaders are definitely going to feel that this is the most spartan G-8 yet.

MULLINS: And the bottom line point here that Berlusconi is making, or trying to make, is what?

HOOPER: I think he's trying to do two things. He is trying to divert money that would otherwise be spent on the Italian state on La Maddalena on trying to reconstruct this area after the earthquake. I think at the same time, a kind of embarrassment had crept in that they had lined up this wonderfully luxurious summit, and then the bottom fell out of the world economy. And all of a sudden, it was looking rather too conspicuous an exercise in consumption. And I think that he has very cleverly managed to wriggle out of that embarrassment, and at the same time divert extra money towards an area that really does badly need it.

MULLINS: Aren't they worried about another earthquake hitting?

HOOPER: Well, that is the one fly in the ointment. This earthquake has, I think, been unusual for the persistence of the aftershocks. Only this last weekend, for example, there were a couple of quite serious tremors, measuring between 2 and 3 on the Richter Scale. So that can be disconcerting for anybody who has never been in an earthquake zone before.

MULLINS: Yeah, to be placed in one as they come to Italy for a summit. By the way, will Berlusconi be staying in these accommodations as well?

HOOPER: That, you might say, is the $64,000 dollar question. Mr. Berlusconi does like his comfort. He has, I think it is 14 homes dotted around the world. He is the second richest man in Italy. Whether he himself will be putting his head on the pillow in these fleece-married quarters remains to be seen.

MULLINS: Thank you very much. We'll look for your update when this decision is made. John Hooper reports from Italy for The Guardian newspaper in Britain. Thank you so much.

HOOPER: Thank you.

MULLINS: This is PRI.

Copyright ©2008 PRI's THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI's THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World's Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.