European Union leaders have condemned remarks by the Italian prime minister, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, to the effect that Western civilisation was superior to Islam. A high-level EU delegation visiting the Middle East insisted yesterday that Mr Berlusconi's comments contradicted a declaration he signed last week with other EU leaders.
Mr Berlusconi made his comments at a press conference in Berlin on Wednesday following a meeting with the German chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schr÷der.
"We should be conscious of the superiority of our civilisation, which consists of a value system that has given people widespread prosperity in those countries that embrace it and guarantees respect for human rights and religion. This respect certainly does not exist in Islamic countries," the Italian Prime Minister said.
Belgium's Foreign Minister, Mr Louis Michel, made plain his exasperation at the remarks, which officials fear could undermine the message that the EU wants to convey to Arab states - that the war against terrorism is not a campaign against Islam.
Speaking in Cairo following a meeting with Egypt's president, Mr Hosni Mubarak, Mr Michel said that Mr Berlusconi's remarks were not acceptable.
"The values of Europe do not allow us to consider that one civilisation is superior to another. It is not our belief," he said.
Mr Osama el Baz, the political adviser to Mr Mubarak, said that Mr Berlusconi sounded an utterly different note when he met the Egyptian president in Rome on Wednesday.
"He even attacked the clash of civilisations. We are all fighting the same war," he said.
The EU delegation travelled to Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt this week in an attempt to shore up support for the international campaign against terrorism. At the heart of their message was a reassurance that the West did not draw an equation between Islam and terrorism.
The External Affairs Commissioner, Mr Chris Patten, poured scorn on Mr Berlusconi's statement. "It may be worth our while in Europe to remember with appropriate humility that the Islamic world has never been responsible for a Holocaust," he said.
The EU delegation gave a cool response to Mr Mubarak's call for an international conference on terrorism. Mr Michel said that the EU agreed with the proposal in principle but that its mandate must be clear and comprehensive.
"We have to discuss this idea further. It is of course a very good idea but sometimes good ideas can lead to unfortunate consequences," he said.
EU officials say privately that they are determined to avoid a repetition of the Durban conference on racism, which was beset by rancorous arguments over how to define racism.
The delegation left Egypt yesterday evening for Damascus, where they were due to meet President Bashar Assad.
Michael Jansen adds:
The editor of al'Rai, the Jordanian mass circulation newspaper, Mr George Hawatmeh, told The Irish Times: "Guys like me have been struggling for two weeks to overcome Bush's use of the word 'crusade' and to convince our readers the West is not campaigning against Arabs and Muslims. Then he Mr Berlusconi confirms the deep suspicion that what we have here is a clash of civilisations. This undermines all the efforts we have been making."
Mr Hawatmeh believes the timing is particularly poor because Mr Berlusconi made his remarks just before today's visit of King Abdullah to the White House where he plans to tell Mr Bush the threat of terrorism will not recede until there is a serious effort to make peace between Palestinians and Israelis and lift the sanctions on Iraq.
A Syrian source said "a very harsh reaction" could be expected, "particularly because the statement came from Italy, the European country the Arabs had believed best understood their concerns". In the view of this source, the fact that the statement appeared after Moscow endorsed the US anti-terror effort gives the impression that NATO and Russia intend to launch a Christian crusade against Muslims.
Mr Berlusconi's remarks could prompt the Syrian President, Dr Baser al-Asda, to reconsider his coming visit to Italy.
Another Palestinian commentator compared Mr Berlusconi's remarks to the effusions of Osama bin Laden, blamed by Washington for the terrorist attacks against the US.
"These remarks will just reinforce in people's minds what bin Laden has been saying," he said.