VZCZCXRO6732
OO RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHRO #0196 0440950
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 130950Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY ROME
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9842
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHFL/AMCONSUL FLORENCE PRIORITY 2910
RUEHMIL/AMCONSUL MILAN PRIORITY 9249
RUEHNP/AMCONSUL NAPLES PRIORITY 3060
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 2919
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 000196
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/15/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV NATO IT
SUBJECT: PRODI TO ATTEND BUCHAREST SUMMIT, SEES NO EASY SOLUTION TO GARBAGE CRISIS
Classified By: Ronald P. Spogli, Ambassador, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d
).
1. (C) On February 11, the Ambassador met with outgoing PM Romano Prodi to discuss a range of outstanding issues. Prodi
said he had just spoken with President Bush and regretted that their February 4 meeting in Washington did not take
place. He confirmed that despite the government crisis he would attend the Bucharest Summit in April 2008. A relaxed
Prodi told the Ambassador that he had done all he could to keep his fractious coalition together and was now considering
retiring from politics.
2. (C) The Ambassador expressed appreciation for the Constitutional Court's postponed hearing on the Abu Omar case and
asked Prodi to look into the delay on approval for basing the Global Hawk UAV at Sigonella. Prodi said he was pleased by
the court's decision. He was surprised, however, that the USG had not received MOD approval for Global Hawk. Both Prodi
and his national security advisor Sannino said they were not aware of outstanding substantive issues and promised to
look into the delay. The Ambassador thanked Prodi for the work of GOI Dal Molin Commissioner Costa and asked that he
allowed to stay on. Prodi said Costa would remain since his mandate comes from the President and not the Prime Minister.
He assured that Ambassador that although there will always be a ""lunatic fringe"" opposed to the project, the expansion
will move forward.
3. (C) On the Naples garbage crisis, Prodi (who had just met with Waste Emergency Commissioner De Gennaro) said there
was no easy short-term solution. Italy considered shipping garbage to developing countries but decided against to avoid
the impression it was exploiting poorer countries. Instead, it will continue shipping garbage to Germany where it will
be disposed of in high-tech incinerators at a substantial cost to the government.
SPOGLI