EU official backs G8 Summit relocation

ROME, April 24 (UPI) -- European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said Friday she supports moving the G8 Summit to Italy's quake-hit city of L'Aquila.

The EU official applauded Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi for proposing this year's summit be moved a Sardinian island to the capital of Italy's Abruzzo region that was hit with a 6.3-magnitude earthquake April 6, the Italian news agency ANSA said.

''I think (Italian) Premier (Silvio) Berlusconi's proposal of moving the G8 summit to Abruzzo is a positive step,'' Ferrero-Waldner said.

Berlusconi made his proposal Thursday and G8 officials have yet to accept or oppose the relocation of the summit that starts July 8.

While Ferrero-Waldner acknowledged the proposed move would have its fair share of difficult logistics, she appeared confident Italy could handle such issues.

"Italy is a creative country," she said from Rome.

ANSA said Ferrero-Waldner, who was once Austrian foreign minister, is in the Italian capital for a foreign ministry conference on international threats.