Silvio Berlusconi has been through a torrid time in recent weeks, amid a spate of allegations about his relations with younger women. But on Wednesday the Italian prime minister will hope to draw a line under his problems when he hosts world leaders at the G8 summit in the Italian city of L’Aquila. The G8 is declining as an institution, eclipsed by the higher standing of the G20. But the G8 presidency still gives its incumbent the opportunity to grab parts of the global agenda and drive through change. Mr Berlusconi, more than most leaders in the developed world these days, needs to look as though he is making the most of the opportunity.

For weeks, stories about the 72-year-old Italian leader’s private life have been an utter embarrassment. But Mr Berlusconi’s reputation on the global stage has fallen for reasons that go well beyond recent headlines. After all, he has long had a reputation as a controversial and unpredictable figure. However, when the Italian premier was last in government – from 2001 to 2006 – the Bush administration needed to court him because Washington was in conflict with the two big players on the European continent: French president Jacques Chirac and German chancellor Gerhard Schröder. Today, all has changed. France and Germany both have strongly pro-American leaders. So Barack Obama does not have to be anything like as tolerant of Mr Berlusconi as his predecessor was.