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ROME (AP) — The Italian foreign ministry on Tuesday summoned the American ambassador in Rome for "clarifications" after Italian media reported a U.S. intelligence agency 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 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. 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 as to a champagne bottle whose cork could suddenly pop. "That Berlusconi was spied on is a grave deed that cannot be minimized," the head of the Senate foreign affairs commission, Pier Ferdinando Casini, was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency. "With the Americans one needs to be clear — friends don't get intercepted and must be respected." 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.

Italy summons US envoy over reports Berlusconi was spied on