Policies of Silvio Berlusconi period because during the Cold War Italy had the strongest communist party in western Europe. Vladimir Putin has many times expressed his appreciation for the respect shown by the Italian Prime Minister towards the leadership of the Russian Federation. Silvio Berlusconi is among the most vocal supporters of closer ties between Russia and the European Union. In an article published to Italian media on 26 May 2002, he said that the next step in Russia's growing integration with the West should be EU membership. On 17 November 2005 he commented in regards to the prospect of such a membership that
Domestic policy of the Nicolas Sarkozy administration fight against the social effects of the crisis. On 28 October, the President unveiled to support employment, with significant aids by the government. On 20 November, Nicolas Sarkozy created the "Fonds stratégique d'investissement", a sovereignty fund with 20 billion euros to help French companies and banks fighting the crisis. The budget bill was revised down several times, with falling tax revenues, a growing deficit, and exploding debt. Finally, on 4 December, President Nicolas Sarkozy announced a 26 billion euros stimulus package to fight the economic crisis. The day after, Patrick Devedjian was appointed Minister of the economic revival. The 2009