Thaindian News

Washington, Sept 29 (ANI): After making news for his alleged sexcapades, Silvio Berlusconi is back in the limelight - but this time it’s because of his “not-so-amusing” comments.

After meeting the Obamas at the G20 dinner in Pittsburgh, the Italian PM told a rally on Sunday night: “I bring you greetings from a very suntanned man… Barack Obama.”

The 72-year-old then went further and described the American leader’s wife Michelle as “suntanned”.

However, this is not the first time the scandal-hit tycoon has said something controversial.

Shortly after Obama’s election in 2008, Berlusconi said the victor was “young, handsome, and even has a good tan”.

Now, the Christian Science Monitor has compiled a list of Top 5 Berlusconi gaffes.

5. On his first meeting with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in 2002, Berlusconi complimented him with the words: “Rasmussen is not only a great colleague, he’s also the best-looking prime minister in Europe.” He added: “He’s so good looking, I’m even thinking of introducing him to my wife.”

4. In 2005, Berlusconi said he had wooed Finnish President Tarja Halonen to ensure her backing for Italy to host the European Food Safety Authority. “I had to use all my playboy tactics, even if they have not been used for some time,” he said.

3. At a 2006 campaign rally, he said: “Read The Black Book of Communism and you will discover that in the China of Mao, they did not eat children, but had them boiled to fertilize the fields.”

2. Berlusconi caused a political row at the start of Italy’s EU presidency by referring to a German member of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, who criticised him for his alleged links to the mafia, as a “concentration camp guard.”

He told the German: “I know that in Italy there is a man producing a film on Nazi concentration camps - I shall put you forward for the role of Kapo [a guard chosen from among the prisoners] - you would be perfect.”

1. Two days after Italy’s biggest earthquake for thirty years made 17,000 people homeless this April, Berlusconi toured some of the tent sites around the town of L’Aquila and told German N-TV: “Of course their current lodgings are a bit temporary but they should see it like a weekend of camping.” (ANI)