Prodi manifesto sparks storm

Italian government figures called on European Commission President Romano Prodi to resign yesterday after he urged centre-left parties to run under a single banner in next year's European Parliament elections.

Prodi, a former Italian prime minister, kicked off a storm in Italy on Monday after issuing a manifesto seen by parties of all persuasions as signalling his eventual return to try to oust the centre right from power.

The 60-page document was welcomed by opposition centre-left parties, who see Prodi leading them out of the political wilderness, but was greeted with alarm and derision by members of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's coalition government.

Centre-right figures were indignant that the head of the European Union's executive body should appear to be involving himself in Italian domestic politics.

Though it is one of the worst kept secrets in Rome that Prodi, whose EU post expires in the second half of 2004, may leave the Commission next year to lead the charge against Berlusconi.

"There is nothing to stop Prodi from resigning, and political loyalty imposes that choice," said Renato Schifani, head of Berlusconi's Forza Italia party in the upper house of parliament, the Senate.

"It is now a political necessity for Prodi to clarify his position once and for all both in Europe and in Italy." he said.

Italy's next scheduled general election is due in 2006 but in the uncertain world of Italian politics - where even the withdrawal of a tiny party can change the parliamentary landscape - it can take place earlier.

Prodi responded to the media reaction by telling reporters the document focused on his "reflections on Europe" and he had no intention of interfering in Italy's domestic politics.

Prodi is the only man to have beaten Berlusconi at the ballot box, in 1996 when he led the "Olive Tree" centre-left coalition. His government was sunk by feuding among allies.

"Prodi prepares the return of the Olive Tree," trumpeted L'Unita, the newspaper of the largest opposition party, the Democrats of the Left.

By issuing the document - on issues ranging from the market economy to immigration, from peace to pensions - political commentators say Prodi is doing the spade work for his return.

"This document is the baptism of Prodi's leadership of the entire centre left," said Beppe Fioroni of the opposition Margherita party.

Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti called Prodi's actions "irresponsible" and in Brussels, Hans-Gert Poettering, head of the European People's Party, to which Berlusconi's Forza Italia party belongs, told Corriere della Sera newspaper Prodi's intervention was "unacceptable, improper and irresponsible".