Roberto Maroni: Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

European Authorities Dept: The European Union responded to what Rome declared a humanitarian emergency just hours before its chief diplomat, Catherine Ashton, was to visit Tunisia a month after the ouster of strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, according to Montreal Gazette. That followed talks on Saturday with Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, from Italy's anti-immigration Northern League party, who has said the country needs urgent help to cope and european authorities said yesterday they were ready to help Italy cope with the "exceptional pressure" of an exodus of thousands of illegal immigrants from post-revolutionary Tunisia. After Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government declared it wanted to move Italian forces onto Tunisian territory to stop tide of immigrants, a spokeswoman said EU home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem "is fully aware of the exceptional pressure on Italy." As reported in the news.
@t prime minister silvio berlusconi, silvio berlusconi