Prodi quickly caught in row over remarks about Hamas
John Hooper in Rome
Friday April 14, 2006
The Guardian
Italy's prime minister-in-waiting, Romano Prodi, yesterday stumbled into his first big row since winning this week's general election when he was quoted as saying he would try to get the European Union to change its approach to Hamas.
The centre-left leader's aides rushed to correct what they said was a mis-translation. But by then he had come under fire from his opponents in Italy, and even the accurate version of his remarks prompted criticism from a Jewish representative.
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The left wing of Mr Prodi's broad alliance made big advances in the vote and can block legislation in either chamber of parliament. There was speculation that its influence was already showing up in Mr Prodi's foreign policy after he was quoted by news agencies as having told the Arab satellite channel, Al-Jazeera: "I shall commit myself at the European level to shape a new position with respect to the new Palestinian government. I am looking with great attention at the signs of an opening being made by Hamas."
A spokesman for the right accused Mr Prodi of complicity in "the worst sort of anti-westernism". The remarks had been translated into Italian from the Arabic voiceover and what Mr Prodi actually said was: "Now I'll get to work in an active way in Europe and we shall see the position in future. Beside, there have been openings by Hamas that are very interesting."
Yasha Reibman, the spokesman for the Jewish community in Milan, was unimpressed. "I was expecting a better start," he told the daily Corriere della Sera.
The incident is unlikely to further Mr Prodi's stated aim of building a cordial relationship with Washington and, at the same time, re-aligning Italian foreign policy more with Europe. Two days after official figures showed he had won the election, Mr Prodi had been congratulated by France's president, Jacques Chirac, Spain's prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel. But Britain's prime minister, Tony Blair, and the US president, George Bush, were waiting for the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, to concede defeat.
However, Mr Berlusconi insisted there had been "endless vote-rigging" and it was "all in one direction". Electoral committees were last night due to finish scrutinising some 43,000 disputed ballots for the chamber of deputies.
But one of Mr Berlusconi's allies, Lorenzo Cesa of the Union of Christian Democrats, distanced himself from the prime minister, saying he did not think the contested voting slips would alter the result. Mr Prodi said of his opponent: "He is unable to lose, to admit that we won."
Mr Berlusconi may resort to obstructionism but on the left there is concern that he might follow Mr Zapatero's predecessor, José María Aznar, in trying to forge a separate and personal link to Washington, bypassing the official relationship.
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Al buio tutti i semafori sono neri... (m3t4llica)
"sono abituato a prendere sul serio anche me stesso quando scrivo vaccate... quindi prendo sul serio qualsiasi idiota come me"
(citazione dalle opere di QED, poeta Parmigiano del secolo scorso, non si sa se ancora in vita)