Berlusconi denies accusations of covert eavesdropping at G8 summit

Published on Thursday 9 July 2009 22:00

THE G8 summit organisers yesterday denied a claim that the summit host Silvio Berlusconi had arranged for covert eavesdropping on private discussions.

Elaborate arrangements are normally put in place at the annual talks to ensure confidentiality.

No recordings or notes are taken of leaders' conversations and no contact is allowed with aides outside the room except by a digital pen, which can transmit scribbled notes electronically.

Leaders are accompanied by only one aide – known as the "sherpa" for the work they do to prepare the way for the summit. Those outside the closed room can observe discussions only by a silent video link, on which mouths are digitally blurred to prevent lip-reading.

But yesterday a newspaper quoted an anonymous official, who said this year's Italian hosts had breached the convention.

It was reported that Italian aides listened to yesterday's proceedings through headphones from nearby rooms, to advise Berlusconi, via his sherpa, on how to handle his role as chairman.

A spokesman for the Italian Prime Minister denied anyone had been listening in.

He said: "What they say remains in the room. There is no channel of communication between the leaders and the outside, except for the digital pens.

"There will not be any sort of secret channel between the president of the G8 different from the others."