Der Spiegel is attacked for dubbing Mr Berlusconi The Godfather

Many Italian commentators are worried that the widespread criticism from abroad is already overshadowing Italy's presidency and the tasks it faces over the next six months.

Many express concern over what they perceive as anti-Italian prejudice in some of the recent foreign coverage.

Mr Berlusconi on Monday blamed what he described as the "leftist" Italian press for inspiring the negative comment in other European media outlets over the past few days.

As EU president Berlusconi will not in the end be judged on the basis of his run-ins with the judiciary or his conflicts of interest Corriere della Sera

A front-page commentary in the left-leaning La Repubblica dismisses that argument, but it launches a scathing attack on German news magazine Der Spiegel, the latest issue of which runs a cover dubbing the Italian premier "The Godfather".

Such a portrayal "is an offence to Italy", not just to its prime minister, it says, accusing the German magazine of "long-running and undeniable anti-Italian prejudice".

The centrist daily Corriere della Sera condemns the "mistrust and sarcasm" with which, it says, some of the international press has greeted Italy's assumption of the EU presidency.

"As president of the European Union Silvio Berlusconi will not in the end be judged on the basis of his run-ins with the judiciary or his conflicts of interest," the paper says.

"He will be weighed and judged as a manager of consensus, as a mediator and patient promoter of proposals that will aid the future of the EU," it adds.

Realism

It is as though Italians needed to apologise to Europeans for having elected Berlusconi Heinz-Joachim Fischer in Corriere della Sera

Writing in the same paper, the Rome correspondent of the conservative German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung also calls for a halt to what he terms "anti-Italian prejudice" in Europe's press.

"The British and the Germans above all, but even the French and Spanish, are competing in claiming the high moral ground," Heinz-Joachim Fischer writes.

"It is as though", he writes, "the Italians needed to apologise to Europeans for having elected Berlusconi."

The centrist La Stampa meanwhile runs a front-page cartoon showing Mr Berlusconi going to his European Calvary carrying a cross marked "Italian press" and "foreign press".

A front-page commentary in the same paper pleads for a note of realism in what it thinks is an overheated debate.

Polemics are all very well, but what the Union needs is a "normal" term of presidency that will get the job done, the commentary says.

This is the sixth time Rome has held the presidency, it continues, and its past record of achievement should not be forgotten in the controversies over the current incumbent.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.