Prodi in four-letter-word blast

By Martin Banks

Date: 20/11/03

EUROPEAN Commission President Romano Prodi has angrily rejected suggestions that favouritism was shown in awarding contracts to a firm that employs his niece.

A clearly rattled Prodi used a four-letter word when asked this week to respond to calls for an inquiry into allegations that the Italian company, Italtrend, may have benefited from the family connection.

Some members of the Parliament's budgetarycontrol committee had called on Prodi to state whether he had ever made representations on behalf of the firm of which his niece, Silvia Prodi, is one of 15 employees, although no MEPs raised the issue during this week's Strasbourg plenary.

The calls for a probe came after Commission officials raised concerns with European Voice that Italtrend may have received preferential treatment during Prodi's tenure.

Speaking in Strasbourg on Tuesday, the president dismissed the allegations as "shit".

"It is absolute rubbish to suggest that the company or my niece may have gained from her connections with me. To suggest otherwise is totally without foundation.

"This company simply employs a niece of mine. But then I have eight brothers too. Please give me one fact or source to back up the allegations."

For ethical reasons, this paper will not disclose the sources within the Commission who initially raised the concerns about Italtrend, as their identification could lead to disciplinary action against them.

The Commission had earlier reacted to the report by pointing out that Italtrend has worked for it under contract "at least since 1995" - four years before Prodi took up his appointment - under the Tacis programme and then outside it.

"Every contract has been won by,or awarded to, the firm under standard procedures in compliance with the rules, transparently and verifiably as the directorate-general stresses," said deputy spokesman Marco Vignudelli.

"Not only was Romano Prodi not president of the European Commission in 1995 but he had not even begun his career in politics. Any talk of favouritism is therefore nonsense."

Vignudelli also criticized the newpaper for saying Prodi was "unavailable for comment" on the issue last week, accusing it of breaching professional ethics by failing to contact either the president or the Commission's spokesman.

In fact, the paper did put questions about the claims to the Commission's spokesman, Reijo Kemppinen, onhis mobile phone, while he was accompanying Prodi on a three-day visit to west Africa.

After later acknowledging the mix-up, Vignudelli apologized, saying: "With regard to last week's front-page article in European Voice, the following should be made clear for the sake of accuracy, fullness of information and respect for the truth:

"It transpires that European Voice did in fact ring the Commission spokesman to request a comment from President Prodi while the spokesman was away in Africa. Whether or not the conversation was impossible to understand because the line was indistinct (I wish to underline that the paper strongly claims the line was clear), the newspaper cannot be criticized for not trying.

"I accordingly accept it was unfair of me to challenge the truthfulness of the last two lines of the article that asserted President Prodi could not be reached while he was in Africa."

European Commission President Romano Prodi appeared before the European Parliament's Budgetary Control Committee on 18 November 2003 and denied that a firm employing his niece received preferential treatment in awarding of contracts.