Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has rejected criticism of its European Union presidency by European Commission chief Mr Romano Prodi.
He also accused Mr Prodi of abusing his post to launch an election campaign.
Mr Prodi annoyed Italy's centre-right government yesterday after telling la Repubblicadaily that Italy's traditional support of European integration had suffered under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's stewardship of the EU presidency, which ended on December 31st.
Ireland has now taken over the six-month rotating presidency.
Mr Prodi, the only man to beat Mr Berlusconi in a general election in 1996, is widely expected to return to Italian politics and head a splintered centre-left opposition when his term at Brussels ends next year.
Mr Frattini told la RepubblicaItaly had made a major contribution in its EU presidency. "Italy played a big part in Europe," Mr Frattini said. "Perhaps Prodi did not realise because he was too absorbed in preparing for the European elections."
Mr Frattini said Italy had used its EU presidency to improve relations with the United States and to promote dialogue towards Middle East peace and between religions.
Italy's EU presidency came under criticism after the failure of leaders to agree on a new EU constitution and a controversial decision to bend strict budget rules for France and Germany.
An opinion poll published in the centre-left Espressoweekly magazine today said 48.8 per cent of people would vote for Mr Prodi if he stood in European elections next May against 32.2 per cent for Mr Berlusconi. Some 700 people took part in the poll.