Quit Now, Britain Tells Prodi

Britain's outspoken minister for Europe, Denis MacShane, yesterday called on the president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, either to give up his job or his ambition of returning to Italian politics.

"It is not acceptable that the commission should have a president who is not dedicated 100% to the questions of Europe, but who is instead seen as a leader of the opposition in exile," Mr MacShane told the Guardian during a visit to Rome.

The Foreign Office minister, who has a highly developed talent for stirring controversy, is already at the centre of a bitter row over his call to British Muslims to make clearer their condemnation of terrorism. Yesterday he apologised in his local paper, the Sheffield Star, for any offence caused by his remarks.

His attack on Mr Prodi reflects the private view of both Downing Street and the Foreign Office about the commission president. But it is rare for a Foreign Office minister to go public in this way and may not have been sanctioned by either.

British officials, though resigned to Mr MacShane's shoot-from-the-hip style, insisted last night that it was not government policy to attack publicly the commission president.

Mr Prodi's spokesman last night rejected Mr MacShane's criticism. "Romano Prodi is 100% dedicated to his duties as commission president, as he has made clear on many occasions. It seems surprising that Mr MacShane is unaware of the president's wholehearted commitment."

The Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties also condemned Mr MacShane, not least because his comments are diplomatically sensitive in the run-up to next week's potentially fraught European Union summit to discuss a new constitution.

But his comments will delight the man due to chair the meeting, Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's rightwing prime minister. Mr Prodi, whose term is due to run to autumn next year, could be his prospective rival on behalf of the centre-left at the next general election.

Mr MacShane, who is enthusiastically pro-European and has been holding a series of meetings in Naples and Rome ahead of the summit, said: "After the IGC [inter-governmental conference], Mr Prodi has to decide whether he is to return to Italy to lead the opposition or continue as president of the European commission."

He added: "Mr Prodi's return to Italy would be totally understandable. But he has to serve Europe properly."

Michael Ancram, the shadow foreign affairs spokesman, said: "It is time that Mr MacShane, as a foreign minister, learned not to shoot off his big mouth in this way."

Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said: "This is the kind of megaphone diplomacy which gets Britain a bad name in Europe. I find it extremely surprising - as will Mr Prodi - that a British government minister should go on the record on an issue like this at this time."

He added: "It is particularly insensitive when we are on the eve of what will be one of the most significant council meetings of recent times."

Although Tony Blair championed Mr Prodi for the job four years ago, that initial enthusiasm has long since cooled and he is now viewed as too much of a federalist. Downing Street and the Foreign Office regard him as unhelpful, especially in the present round of IGC negotiations.

Many in Brussels and other EU capitals despair of Mr Prodi, widely seen as a lame duck - not only because of his political ambitions at home but also because the commission is looking terminally weak.

Last week's decision by governments to overrule its recommendations on punishing France and Germany for their ballooning budget deficits was only the latest in a series of very low moments.

Mr Berlusconi's centre-right supporters expressed outrage last month when Mr Prodi stepped aside from his EU role to rally the Italian centre-left.

He is now regarded in Italy as the opposition leader in waiting, and few people believe he would remain in Brussels were Mr Berlusconi to call an election early next year, as some believe he may.