ITALY: Just six days away from next weekend's general election, Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi stuck to his word during last night's second TV debate with his centre-left electoral rival Romano Prodi.
All too aware that he was widely judged to have lost the first round to Mr Prodi three weeks ago, the prime minister had promised that this time he would not play on the defensive but would instead take the game to his rival.
So it was, with the prime minister's aggressive attitude almost provoking precisely the sort of heated, ill-tempered exchange which the rules of the debate had been designed to avoid. The format was the same as the last time, with each candidate allowed 2½ minutes to answer questions from two senior journalists without interruption from his rival.
Last time this formula produced a sterile atmosphere which greatly cramped Mr Berlusconi's impulsive, energetic style. This time the prime minister was determined to get his retaliation in first, so much so that Mr Prodi quickly abandoned the dozy, doting granddad mode. For a start, while Mr Prodi courteously addressed Mr Berlusconi as "Mr Prime Minister", Mr Berlusconi continually referred to his rival as "Mr Prodi" rather than the more normal titles of "President Prodi" or "Professor Prodi" normally used.
When Mr Berlusconi attributed many of the economic difficulties encountered by his government to the disastrous situation inherited from the previous centre-left government, Mr Prodi replied in tones of exasperation: "I would like an end to this story of the debt inherited from the left. It simply didn't exist."
As Mr Berlusconi tried to interrupt him, something expressly forbidden by the prim and proper rules of the debate, Mr Prodi sharply reprimanded the prime minister: "Please, Mr Prime Minister, I didn't interrupt you, so please. The reality is that we are way outside the Maastricht parameters now. I can understand that these parameters annoy the prime minister, all rules annoy the prime minister."
Earlier, in answer to a question about his government's economic record, Mr Berlusconi had given a detailed, upbeat plan of future intentions, while at the same time underlining that his government had maintained all its promises of five years ago, especially in relation to increasing pensions and reducing public expenditure and taxation.
"We're credible," he said. "Italians will find that everything that we are proposing with regard to reducing public expenditure will be enacted."
"That's great, we'll propose this, we'll do that, we'll change this. But who has been governing this country for the last five years?" countered Mr Prodi. "Just judge what state Italy is in today and what you did to public spending. You've thrown away €40 billion, public spending is out of control - it now represents 2-3 per cent of GDP. When we were in government, we kept public spending under control but under you it has increased and nobody knows exactly how and that's the real problem."
The war in Iraq, taxation, job creation and abortion were some of the issues touched on in the debate. In relation to the war in Iraq, Mr Prodi said he had been opposed to the US-led invasion and that, in consultation with the Iraqi authorities, he would opt for a "quick withdrawal" of troops if elected.
Mr Berlusconi said that Italian troops had at no time participated in the war in Iraq, but had been on a peacekeeping mission. The prime minister also suggested that Mr Prodi will have great difficult formulating foreign policy and imposing his views, given the much divided nature of his centre-left coalition. "I've said it several times. He won't win the election but even if he did, he wouldn't be able to keep that lot together and govern the country," he said.