Italy's opposition newspapers criticised Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi today for again calling US president Barack Obama "suntanned" even though he caused a political storm when he first said it last year.
At a rally last night Mr Berlusconi said: "I have to bring you some greetings, greetings from a man, what is his name, what is his name - just a minute it was someone with a tan - Barack Obama".
He then added: "You won't believe it but they went together to the beach to get a tan because even his wife is suntanned."
European media have played up photos showing Michelle Obama greeting many leaders at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh summit last week with a kiss but stiffly holding out her arm for a handshake when it came time to greet Mr Berlusconi. The photos show Mr Berlusconi’s gazing at Mrs Obama’s dress instead of her face, and holding his arms out as if in delight at what he sees, while the US president looks on, apparently not amused.
L'Unita, the newspaper of the main opposition party, the Democratic Party, put the comments on its front page with a photograph of Michelle Obama. "He makes us look ridiculous before the whole world," the newspaper said, adding that the comment was "a racist gaffe".
The left-leaning La Repubblicasaid it was a "reckless comment".
Mr Berlusconi was also criticised by Italy's only black parliamentarian Jean Leonard Touadi, who is of Congolese origin. "By repeating these quips that are out of place, the prime minister continues to damage the image of Italy," he said in Washington, where he was meeting black members of the U.S. Congress.
Mr Berlusconi first got into hot water over Mr Obama last November when, during a trip to Moscow, he called the then president-elect "handsome, young suntanned".
The next day in Brussels, when an American reporter asked whether he would apologise to Mr Obama, the prime minister told the reporter he was worthy of a place on his list of "imbeciles".
Mr Berlusconi is no stranger to controversial comments. In 2003 he likened a German member of the European Parliament to a Nazi camp guard and in 2005 he suggested that he had wooed Finnish president Tarja Halonen to ensure her backing for Italy to host the European Food Safety Authority.