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Berlusconi joke jars at EU summit
Fri Dec 12, 1:30 PM ET
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - One of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's wisecracks has jarred at a European Union (news - web sites) summit after he joked about being thrown from a helicopter, participants say.
Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller, who broke his spine in a helicopter crash last week, arrived in a wheelchair shortly after Berlusconi told fellow leaders the joke over lunch on Friday.
The Italian leader joked that he and his wife were flying over a crowd of protesters. He told her: "I could throw out one 10,000 euro note and make one person happy. I could throw two 5,000 euro notes and make two people happy. Or I could throw 10,000 one-euro coins and make 10,000 people happy."
The helicopter pilot, he said, replied: "We could throw you out and make everyone happy."
One EU diplomat said that in the light of Miller's accident, "it is quite remarkable he would tell a joke about helicopters".
Berlusconi's sense of humour got him into trouble at the start of his six-month stint in the EU chair, when he joked that a German member of the European Parliament should play the role of a guard in a film about a Nazi concentration camp.
I still thought the helicopter joke was funny though.
Fri Dec 12, 1:30 PM ET
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - One of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's wisecracks has jarred at a European Union (news - web sites) summit after he joked about being thrown from a helicopter, participants say.
Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller, who broke his spine in a helicopter crash last week, arrived in a wheelchair shortly after Berlusconi told fellow leaders the joke over lunch on Friday.
The Italian leader joked that he and his wife were flying over a crowd of protesters. He told her: "I could throw out one 10,000 euro note and make one person happy. I could throw two 5,000 euro notes and make two people happy. Or I could throw 10,000 one-euro coins and make 10,000 people happy."
The helicopter pilot, he said, replied: "We could throw you out and make everyone happy."
One EU diplomat said that in the light of Miller's accident, "it is quite remarkable he would tell a joke about helicopters".
Berlusconi's sense of humour got him into trouble at the start of his six-month stint in the EU chair, when he joked that a German member of the European Parliament should play the role of a guard in a film about a Nazi concentration camp.
I still thought the helicopter joke was funny though.
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