Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini on Saturday rejected criticism of its European Union presidency by European Commission chief Romano Prodi and accused Prodi of abusing his post to launch an election campaign.
Prodi annoyed Italy's centre-right government on Friday after telling la Repubblica daily that Italy's traditional support of European integration had suffered under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's stewardship of the EU presidency, which ended on December 31.
Prodi, the only man to beat Berlusconi in a general election in 1996, is widely expected to return to Italian politics and head a splintered centre-left opposition when his term at Brussels ends next year.
Frattini told la Repubblica Italy had made a major contribution in its six-month EU presidency.
"Italy played a big part in Europe," Frattini said. "Perhaps Prodi did not realise because he was too absorbed in preparing for the European elections," he added.
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