Berlusconi vows to become 'boring'

Berlusconi's Nazi jibe sparked enormous outrage

Seemingly fed up with sparking off diplomatic rows with his unguarded comments Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has vowed that from now on he will try to be "boring".

In an interview with Time magazine to mark his visit to America for talks with President George W Bush, Mr Berlusconi said he would try to curb his verbal gaffes in future.

"I'll try to soften it and become boring, maybe even very boring, but I'm not sure I'll be able to," he said.

The Italian premier caused controversy earlier this month when he likened a heckling German European Parliament member to a Nazi concentration camp guard.

Schroeder's trip had been planned for mid-July

The diplomatic fallout from the comment tarnished the start of Italy's presidency of the European Union.

When an Italian minister compounded matters by attacking German tourists as "hyper-nationalistic blondes", Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder cancelled a planned Italian holiday.

So was this a view the prime minister shared?

Asked for his view of German tourists, Mr Berlusconi repeated the phrase that former US President John F Kennedy used to win over the hearts of the citizens of West Berlin in 1963.

"Ich bin ein Berliner," Mr Berlusconi said: "I am a Berliner."