Berlusconi called for a Europe speaking with "one voice"

Uproar over comments he made in the European parliament last week, comparing a German MEP to a concentration camp guard has still not died down.

The prime minister's critics point to what they say was favourable TV coverage of last week's furore as evidence that Mr Berlusconi's influence over Italy's media is dangerous.

The BBC's Jonathan Charles in Rome says the coverage on many television bulletins left Italians in the dark about why Mr Berlusconi's remarks caused so much outrage in the rest of Europe.

Deepening rift

The legislation under consideration in the upper house would help Mr Berlusconi add radio stations to his existing television and publishing interests.

Already, Mr Berlusconi controls about 90% of Italian television through his family's ownership of commercial channels and his influence as prime minister over the state broadcaster RAI, our correspondent says.

Parliament has already passed several bills which critics say are tailor made to aid Mr Berlusconi's business interests and to bail him out of his legal entanglements in the courts where he faces corruption charges.

It was a question about allegations of corruption against the prime minister posed by the German MEP Martin Schulz which sparked Mr Berlusconi's now infamous outburst, which has created a rift between Italy and the EU's largest member state, Germany.

The row has been compounded by a junior minister's remarks which denigrated the large numbers of German tourists who visit Italy each year.

"We know the Germans well, these stereotyped blondes with a hyper-nationalist pride who have always been indoctrinated to be first in the class at any cost," Stefano Stefani, an undersecretary in Italy's Industry Ministry, wrote in an open letter to a right-wing newspaper.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is now considering cancelling his annual holiday in Italy, a spokesman in Berlin has said.

'Art of mediation'

On Monday, Mr Berlusconi made his first major speech since the outburst, saying that Italy was not a country which infringed freedoms.

Laying out his country's priorities for its six-month presidency of the European Union, he said Italy would use the "art of mediation" to reach agreement on the new European constitution.

"The Italian presidency of the European Union will be no ordinary administration. On the contrary, it will be a crucial presidency," he said.

It would lead to a Europe capable of speaking with "one voice" and sharing the values of democracy and freedom with its partner the United States, he added.

He said his government expected European Convention chairman Valery Giscard d'Estaing to hand over the remainder of the draft constitution on 18 July.

Italy would seek a European-wide consensus on curbing illegal immigration, he said, while continuing to offer "a real welcome to those who come legally" to work there.