Italian rivalry reaches EU

Prodi wants Italy to co-operate with the EU Commission

An all-Italian diplomatic spat is brewing at the highest levels of the European union (EU).

The row is between EU Commission President Romano Prodi and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is bound to take over the presidency of the EU Council from 1 July 2003.

The argument is over the degree of co-operation needed between the EU Commission and the European Council, two of Europe's top institutions, which are going to be headed by the two Italians shortly.

Mr Prodi said on Thursday he was concerned by statements made yesterday by the Italian premier:

"I am saddened and worried. It is like saying that, in a national state, a close co-operation between government and parliament is not required," daily La Repubblica quoted Mr Prodi as saying from Brussels.

Cordial personal relationship

Mr Berlusconi, in fact, said on Wednesday that there was no need for close co-operation between the two institutions.

"A particularly close cooperation between the EU Commission and Council is not necessary," he said.

"The two bodies have separate functions. The Commission does certain things, the Council does others," the prime minister added, speaking from his villa in Sardinia.

"Anyway, I have always had and still have a cordial relationship with Romano Prodi," he said.

New Constitution

Berlusconi lost an Italian general election to Prodi in 1996

The long-distance debate started on Monday when Mr Prodi, a former Italian prime minister himself, told Italian Rai TV that he was hoping for a close co-operation with the EU Council during the Italian semester of duty presidency.

"It has been like that with the past presidencies, and it will certainly be the case with the Italian one. I also hope that there will be a collaboration aimed at giving impulse to Europe.

"This is the semester in which we will probably approve the new constitution," Mr Prodi said.

The two leaders are ancient political rivals: Mr Prodi's centre-left coalition beat Mr Berlusconi's conservative one in the 1996 general elections.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.