Controversies surrounding Silvio Berlusconi being added to our list of Predators of Press Freedom", which would be a first for a European leader. He also added that Italy will probably be ranked last in the European Union in the upcoming edition of the RWB press freedom index. One of Berlusconi's strongest critics in the media outside Italy is the British weekly "The Economist" (nicknamed by Berlusconi ""The Ecommunist""), which in its issue of 26 April 2001 carried a title on its front cover, 'Why Silvio Berlusconi is unfit to lead Italy'. The war of words between Berlusconi and "The Economist" has gained notoriety, with
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