'Diesel' hitched to Europe

Romano Prodi is a stark contrast to his rival Silvio Berlusconi. Picture / Reuters

BRUSSELS - Only rarely, while European Commission President, did Romano Prodi share a platform with his bitter rival Silvio Berlusconi - and only once did he seem to enjoy himself.

Berlusconi, then Italian Prime Minister, had just committed a political gaffe by describing Western civilisation as superior to Islam. At a press conference in Brussels, Prodi looked on in silence while an aggressive European press corps laid into Berlusconi. The faintest ghost of a smile could be seen on the face of the European Commission President.

The episode highlighted the contrast between Berlusconi - the erratic, loud-mouthed, flashy, media magnate - and Prodi, the solid, cautious, economics professor from Bologna.

Nothing about Prodi is slick or smart. When in office as European Commission President between 1999 and 2004 the nickname he liked was the "Diesel". He saw himself as someone who, through methodical hard work, delivered decent results.

His media minders debated how to improve Prodi's poor communication skills, persuading him to give up speaking in English or French. Unfortunately compatriots said he did not sound that much better in Italian.

He is, for one thing, no lover of sound bites though, in one-to-one conversation, Prodi likes to say interesting and provocative things.

Indeed loose talk has in the past got him into a certain amount of trouble. He once ridiculed the British Government's horror at the idea that a European Army was emerging from an EU defence initiative, saying: "If you don't want to call it a European Army, don't call it a European Army. You can call it 'Margaret', you can call it 'Mary-Ann'. You can find any name."

Prodi, who studied at the London School of Economics, Harvard and Stanford, was born in 1939, number eight of nine brothers and sisters. A total of seven of his siblings went on to be university lecturers.

This academic background counted in his favour during his first stint as Italian Prime Minister when he was seen as the antidote to his corrupt, professional, political rivals. But in ultra-political Brussels he was widely criticised by the media for his lack of charisma and failure to get a grip on the bureaucratic machine.

A former Christian Democrat who then supported the reformed ex-Communists, Prodi did not come from an established political family and lacked allies.

He is a committed European and, in his new role, will try to push integration further and faster.

- INDEPENDENT