MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Busy agenda for Chile’s Piñera in Europe and Israel and Palestine

President Piñera with the Italian leader Berlusconi

Chilean President Sebastián Piñera arrived in Italy this week for a three-day visit to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and the Vatican. It comes at a difficult time for Berlusconi, who is in the middle of a scandal and allegations of tax fraud and consorting with under-age prostitutes.

While campaigning for the presidency, the opposition often compared Piñera to Berlusconi. Both men are billionaires and own television stations and the largest soccer team in their country. Both also have a playboy image, although Piñera’s is more that of a man with expensive hobbies.

The Piñera campaign played down the similarities. And a year into his presidency, Piñera stressed the difference in “behaviour and values” between him and the Italian prime minister.

“Naturally, as exists between all human beings, we also have similarities and differences, but nothing that will prevent, me as president of Chile, and he as president of the Italian council of ministers, from advancing and further strengthening ties and collaboration between a wonderful country like Italy, with an ancient history, and a wonderful country like Chile, both with a great future ahead,” said Piñera.

Piñera also visited the Vatican, paying tribute at the tomb of John Paul II and meeting with Pope Benedict XVI. This meeting is also politically sensitive. The Vatican recently announced the guilt of Chilean priest Francisco Karadima in multiple cases of sexually abusing minors. The case had stalled in Chilean courts.

On Tuesday, Piñera presented a lecture to business and economics students at Guido Carli International University of Social Studies. He also met with local business leaders and the Chilean ambassador to Italy, Francisco Javier Godoy Arcaya Oscar.

Piñera met with Chilean footballers playing in the top Italian soccer league on Tuesday night in a restaurant in central Rome before walking by the local sites in the rain.

The foreign visit will continue with a trip to the Middle East, including Palestine -- a country Chile formally recognized earlier this year. Piñera will also visit Israel, Jordan and Spain before returning to Chile and meeting with US President Barack Obama on March 21.

By Mark Briggs – Santiago Times