November 1, 2001	Thursday	Shaba’an 14, 1422

BRUSSELS, Oct 31: European Commission President Romano Prodi accused European media on Wednesday of “stupid lies” by sniping at his leadership with allegations that he was unable to speak English or French.

Italy’s Prodi, who has shown signs of irritation as his authority has been eroded by member states, insisted via his spokesman that he spent almost all his time at work speaking English and French, the main European Union languages.

“He considers most of the criticism we have read in recent days thoroughly unjustified and unfounded. It is a repetition, barely reheated, of stupid lies,” spokesman Jonathan Faull told a news conference.

Prodi came under fire in the British and German press last week after criticizing Britain, France and Germany for holding separate talks on Afghanistan ahead of an EU summit, and boycotting a joint news conference with Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt fearing he could not get a word in edgeways.

“There is a concerted campaign in the sense that one sees a chain reaction over a number of days of a story being repeated in different countries across Europe,” Faull said.

Another falsehood was the suggestion that Prodi surrounded himself only with Italian advisers, the spokesman said.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi rode to Prodi’s defence on Tuesday. “(In Brussels) There is something rotten, like in Hamlet’s Denmark,” he told Il Foglio newspaper.

“The sole intention of some of these political lobbies is to turn Italy and its ruling class into a scapegoat whenever anything goes wrong,” he said. He said criticisms were intended to “poison our national image.”

Prodi stayed away from a final news conference at an EU summit in Ghent on October 19, saying he feared he would be sidelined by Verhofstadt’s long bilingual monologues.

Faull said Prodi, who still has three years of a five-year term to run, was successfully implementing all policy promises.

“The notion that he is inarticulate in English and French...is nonsense,” he said.

Yet Prodi, a former economics professor, can baffle audiences, at times losing listens by mumbling words.

Analysts say Prodi’s problems stem partly from the declining power of the Commission since its heyday.—Reuters