German anger over Italian minister's jibe

GERMANY: The German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schröder, may cancel his summer holiday in Italy later this month after a junior minister in the Italian government described German tourists as "stereotyped blondes with a hyper-nationalist pride".

Mr Stefano Stefani, a deputy tourism minister, declined to apologise for his remarks yesterday, reigniting tensions between Berlin and Rome a week after the Italian Prime Minister, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, likened a German MEP to a concentration camp guard.

"Under no circumstances am I going to apologise . . . you have to explain to me what I have to apologise for," said Mr Stefani at a press conference yesterday.

In an open letter last week to La Padania, the party newspaper of the right-wing Northern League, Mr Stefani said Germany was a "country intoxicated with arrogant certainties".

"We know the Germans well, these stereotyped blondes with a hyper-nationalist pride who have always been indoctrinated to be first in the class at any cost," he wrote.

Leading Italian politicians distanced themselves from the comments yesterday. Mr Franco Frattini, the Foreign Minister, said the remarks were "unfounded" and represented only Mr Stefani's opinion and not those of the government.

"\ know well they are welcome in our country, just as we know we are welcome guests in Germany," said Mr Frattini, in a statement that notably stopped short of an apology.

However, Mr Bela Anda, the German government spokesman, described the remarks as a "blanket insult to all Germans who like to spend their holidays in Italy".

More than 10 million Germans travel to Italy every year, spending billions of euros.

One of those holidaymakers for the last number of years has been Mr Schröder, who was planning to head to Rimini as usual at the end of the month. "The Chancellor's holiday will be decided on at the given time," said Mr Anda yesterday.

He said Berlin assumed Mr Frattini's statement "represents the view of the Italian government and will not be revised", an obvious nod to Mr Berlusconi's denial that he had apologised for his Nazi remarks after apparently expressing his regret to Mr Schröder in a telephone conversation.

Mr Stefani, who was married to a German woman for 20 years, said his remarks were taken out of context and were meant to be insulting of "those who express opinions on Italy or on Italian political authorities that are exclusively based on vile stereotypes".

Last week Der Spiegel news magazine put Mr Berlusconi on its front cover with the headline "The Godfather".

To prove there was no ill will, Mr Stefani yesterday invited Mr Schröder to come to stay at his holiday home.

"In that way, Mr Schröder will see that I feel comfortable with Germans who are different to [MEP Martin] Schulz. And I am certain that he is very different to Mr Schulz," he said yesterday.

The second anti-German jibe in a week caused uproar in Germany yesterday. The best-selling newspaper Bild asked if Mr Stefani had "spaghetti for brains".

Mr Wolfgang Clement, the economics minister, said he hoped Mr Stefani would be "taken out of circulation".

Mr Palmiro Ucchiellie, president of the Palmiro province where Mr Schröder usually spends his summer holiday, said he hoped the Chancellor would come as usual. He said the "stupidity" of Mr Stefani "speaks for itself".

Meanwhile the row surrounding Mr Berlusconi's Nazi jibe appeared over yesterday after the Italian leader telephoned Mr Pat Cox, the president of the European Parliament.

The Italian leader "expressed his regret for having used . . . certain expressions and comparisons which hurt the sensitivities of members of the European parliament", said a spokesman for the European Parliament.

Mr Cox had demanded an apology from Mr Berlusconi, saying that the statement of regret to Mr Schröder was not enough to settle the row.