Nationalist MEPs Simon Busuttil and David Casa were accused of being rash in condemning Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi about comments he was said to have made about Malta.

Comments attributed to Mr Prodi by the newspaper Il Giornale were in fact never made, Italian MP Sandro Gozi told Arnold Cassola.

Mr Gozi is Mr Prodi’s former personal secretary in Brussels and now the MP closest to Mr Prodi in Rome.

“Dr Busuttil and Mr Casa were a little bit too rash with the issuing of their PR condemning Mr Prodi and should have checked their facts before attempting to disinform the Maltese electorate,” Prof. Cassola said.

Mr Prodi was reported to have compared Malta to Slovenia, saying he had a problem with Malta’s allocation of seats in the European Parliament.

Prof. Cassola said the Maltese and Italian diplomatic delegations have met and cleared up the issue among them.