Berlusconi under fire over tourism fears

ITALIAN prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, facing a German tourism boycott that would cost his country millions of pounds, yesterday came under fire from one of his closest political allies.

Mr Berlusconi began his six month EU presidency by comparing a German MEP to a Nazi. Then Italy's tourism minister said all German tourists were "hyper-nationalistic blondes", which prompted Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to cancel his Italian holiday.

Towns from the Amalfi coast to the Alps had offered their hospitality to Mr Schroeder, concerned that the dispute would persuade millions of big-spending Germans to holiday elsewhere this year.