The Italian foreign ministry on Tuesday summoned the American ambassador in Rome to press for "clarifications" after Italian media reported that a U.S. intelligence agency had intercepted phone calls involving then-Premier Silvio Berlusconi and some of his aides in 2011.
La Repubblica daily and l'Espresso newsweekly reported that the alleged spying by the U.S. National Security Agency occurred in late 2011, amid international worry over Berlusconi's government's ability to handle a worsening debt crisis. The growing pressure prompted Berlusconi to reluctantly resign.
The reports cited WikiLeaks documents about purported intercepted conversations, which the foreign ministry described as "indiscretions."
Italy and the United States are staunch allies. During his three stints as premier, media mogul Berlusconi often boasted of close ties with Washington.
There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Embassy on the summoning of Ambassador John Phillips or on how the meeting went.
A top foreign ministry official, secretary-general Michele Valensise, relayed to the ambassador "the strong Italian expectation to be able to have clarifications as soon as possible," the ministry said in a statement after the meeting.
Valensise reminded the ambassador that in 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama overhauled procedures dealing with "confidentiality of communications" and Phillips assured Italy that "he will immediately bring the matter to the attention of his authorities," it said.
According to La Repubblica, one intercepted call, purportedly capturing a conversation involving one of Berlusconi's closest advisers, included talk about how France's then-President Nicolas Sarkozy supposedly likened Italy's deteriorating debt crisis to a champagne bottle whose cork could suddenly pop.
The head of Parliament's oversight commission on intelligence services said the purported intercepts of Berlusconi's phone calls will be raised later in the week at previously scheduled hearing of the Italian government's undersecretary for intelligence matters.
La Repubblica said calls from both cell phones and land line phones were intercepted.
The diplomatic flap came on the same day Premier Matteo Renzi spoke about solid U.S. -Italian cooperation in efforts to combat Daesh group terrorists who are gaining ground in Libya, across the Mediterranean from Italy.
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