Military

DATE=7/3/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=BERLUSCONI/E-U (S)

NUMBER=2-305009

BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON

DATELINE=BRUSSELS

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is facing intense pressure to apologize for suggesting that a German member of the European Parliament be cast in a motion picture as a Nazi concentration camp guard. V-O-A's Roger Wilkison reports from Brussels that Mr. Berlusconi says he will discuss the matter later Thursday in a phone call to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

TEXT: Mr. Schroeder, speaking before the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, demanded a formal apology from Mr. Berlusconi for making what the German leader called an unacceptable remark.

The Italian prime minister's jibe at German Social Democrat Martin Schulz reopened painful wounds in Germany and underlined the country's sensitivity about its Nazi past.

Italy has also demanded that Mr. Schulz apologize for provoking Mr. Berlusconi. Mr. Schulz criticized the Italian leader in the European Parliament for an alleged conflict of interest between his role as prime minister and his ownership of most of Italy's private television stations.

Mr. Berlusconi's response caused outrage within the European Parliament, but the assembly's leaders failed to agree on whether to seek a formal apology.

Mr. Berlusconi says his remarks were ironic and were not meant to insult the German people. He says he thinks the diplomatic row with Germany that they caused is now over, and he accuses Italy's left-of-center opposition of orchestrating the controversy that marred his debut as chairman of the European Union. (SIGNED)

NEB/RW/ALW/RAE