Policies of Silvio Berlusconi despite the policy divide between the U.S. and many founding members of the European Union (Germany, France, Belgium) during the Bush administration. Under his lead the Italian Government also shifted its traditional position on foreign policy from being the most pro-Arab western government towards a greater friendship with Israel and Turkey (Silvio Berlusconi acted as wedding witness for the son of the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan) than in the past, hence rebalancing relations with all the Mediterranean countries to reach "equal closeness" with them. Berlusconi is one of the strongest supporters of Turkey's application to accede to the
Presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Sarkozy was marked by the global financial and economic crisis. As president of the European Union during the last six months of 2008, and as the president of a member country of the G-8 and the G-20, Nicolas Sarkozy was very much involved in the international debates and propositions to fight against the crisis. He had also to cope with the economic and social effects of the crisis in France. In particular, he had to renounce to reduce the public deficit as he had promised, and instead he had to launch a stimulus package, as part of the 2008