By Benedetto Cataldi BBC Monitoring

Prodi: signalling return to Italian politics?

EU Commission President Romano Prodi has launched an unprecedented attack on the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi.

"I am seriously outraged by how the head of the government has used public television for his own personal goals in a way which has no precedents in our history," he told Italian Rai TV on Saturday. "Italians should reflect with serenity."

Mr Prodi was commenting on Mr Berlusconi's long interview on a TV programme on Friday on public broadcaster Rai.

The Italian premier dismissed Mr Prodi's remarks: "It is in his own right to feel how he likes... I was interviewed. They asked me questions and I answered," he said.

It is highly unusual for a leading international politician to criticise how the Italian prime minister - who owns Italy's three main private TV channels - uses the media.

The EU Commission president, a former Italian prime minister, has been unwilling to comment publicly on Italian domestic politics since getting the top job in Brussels in 1999.

Troubled government

So, Mr Prodi's remarks appear to herald his return to Italy's domestic political scene, just weeks before he and Mr Berlusconi have to start working together at the top of the EU.

On 1 July, in fact, Italy starts its term of presidency of the EU Council and Italian political rivalries could be transferred to the much more visible EU stage.

Berlusconi is the first serving Italian PM to appear at his own trial

Mr Berlusconi's centre-right government is not enjoying great health: the prime minister has to deal with legal and political problems alike.

He is a defendant in a corruption trial in Milan and last Monday, he was the first serving Italian prime minister ever to appear in court.

Mr Berlusconi denied charges that he had bribed judges during a 1985 takeover battle, but implicated Mr Prodi in the affair.

Also, coalition partners Northern League have repeatedly threatened to withdraw support from the government if their requests for devolved state and broadcasting are not met.

Weak opposition

The Northern League pulled down Mr Berlusconi's first government in 1994 and, if they fare poorly at the forthcoming local elections, they could easily pull the plug on Mr Berlusconi again.

The Turin daily La Stampa recently quoted the prime minister as saying: "There is an atmosphere that I don't like. I have the impression that somebody, I don't know who, is preparing something."

"My impression is that somebody is aspiring to get rid of me, but I don't know how," he added.

Currently, Mr Berlusconi's strong point is represented by a weak, divided and leaderless opposition - if elections were to be called now, the prime minister would very likely be confirmed in office.

The centre-left, however, used to have a strong leader in Mr Prodi, who led it to victory in 1996.

Mr Prodi has said he intends to step down from his Brussels post in June 2004, after the next EU elections.

So, if Mr Berlusconi wants to avoid facing another battle with his old rival in Brussels, he has to win an election within the next 12 months.

This could prove rather difficult: in Italy, it is the president who calls elections, not the prime minister, and President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi is not likely to call an election during Italy's EU presidency term.