NATO chief heads to Italy to meet Berlusconi

BRUSSELS (AFP) Jul 03, 2003
NATO chief George Robertson will visit Rome on Friday to hold talks with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who took over the EU presidency this week, officials said.

The military alliance's secretary-general will also meet Defence Minister Antonio Martino as Italy begins six months at the tiller of the European Union, a NATO statement said Thursday.

In a speech to the European Parliament Wednesday that was marred by angry exchanges with left-wing opponents, Berlusconi pledged to advance the EU's security and defence policy after the divisions caused by the war on Iraq.

Robertson has called repeatedly for the EU to increase its defence spending, and to spend its military budgets more wisely, to shoulder more of the global security burden from the United States.

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