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Berlusconi under attack for 'sexist' remarks linked to Carla
A row has erupted over alleged 'sexist' remarks linked to Carla Bruni made by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, prompting two lawmakers to threaten a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights.
A row has erupted over alleged 'sexist' remarks linked to Carla Bruni made by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, prompting two lawmakers to threaten a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights.
The office of the Italian prime minister, in an extraordinary move, denied reports that Berlusconi boasted to Sarkozy that he had 'given him his woman', The Times newspaper reported on Monday.
Two Italian lawmakers had said that they would lodge a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights over Berlusconi's 'sexist' remarks.
Anna Paola Concia, of the left-wing Democratic Party, and Donata Gottardi, a leftwing Euro MP, said that Berlusconi had violated the European Convention of Human Rights with 'his repeated statements that offend female dignity', the report said.
In a sotto voce aside during a Franco-Italian summit last week, Berlusconi was said to have remarked, in a mixture of French and Italian, "Moi, je t'ai donné la tua donna" ("Me, I gave you your woman"), a reference to the Italian-born French First Lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the report in the British daily said.
