LONDON -- Foot-in-mouth politicians are a major cause of public disillusionment with politics. Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, not only has a bad reputation for attempting to interfere in the legal process, but also for making stupid and embarrassing gaffes. His latest gaffe at the European Parliament was to compare a German Social Democratic member of Parliament, who had sharply criticized Berlusconi's record, with a Nazi concentration camp guard.
This insult was not merely in bad taste, but showed that Berlusconi has a thin skin probably because he knows that the accusations against him have some justification. When pressed to withdraw his comment and apologize, he attempted to pass the remark off as irony, suggesting that his critics were lacking in a sense of humor. If his remark was intended to be ironic it certainly did not seem so to the vast majority of his hearers. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called for an apology from Berlusconi, but such excuses as the Italian prime minister could be induced to make have not satisfied his critics.
Unfortunately, Berlusconi is also -- as it is Italy's turn to hold the EU presidency -- chairman of the European Union's council of ministers. As such he will chair discussions on many sensitive issues such as the proposed new constitution for the EU. It seems only too probable that he will make more gaffes and give even greater offense in the course of the next six months. So Europe looks likely to have a roller-coaster period and Europeans will have to expect many bumps. As Berlusconi controls the bulk of the Italian media, the Italian people are not made adequately aware of the disastrous impact of their prime minister on Italy's reputation in Europe and the world. This is deplorable in view of Italy's cultural heritage and commercial and economic strengths.