Italy shocked by 'mixed race' remark

Philip Pullella:

The speaker of Italy's Senate has come under fire from the Roman Catholic Church and some political leaders and commentators for saying Italians risked becoming members of a "mixed race" because of immigration.

The comments by Marcello Pera shocked many because his post ranks only second to the presidency in Italy's institutional hierarchy and he is expected to play a key symbolic role as an arbiter in the run-up to next year's general elections.

"In Europe, the population is decreasing, the doors are open to uncontrolled immigration and we will all become members of a mixed race," the speaker of the upper house of parliament told a meeting of young Catholics in northern Italy.

Although Italy has far fewer immigrants than other European countries - only 4.5 per cent of the population - the issue of immigration has become hot and is expected to be a key part of the debate in the 2006 national elections.

"I was a bit stupefied," said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the archbishop of Genoa who is a close aide to Pope Benedict.

Pera, who has been Senate speaker since 2001 and hails from Prime Minister Berlusconi's Forza Italia Party, co-authored a book on Europe in 2004 with the future pope when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

Another leading churchman who sought to distance himself from Pera's comments was Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican's Justice and Peace department.

"A person who comes to our country to work does not only have worth because of how much he produces and how much his salary is, but also because of his identity, his culture, his religion," Martino told reporters.

Parties such as the Northern League, which is part of the centre-right Berlusconi coalition, have tried to link immigration with crime and terrorism, other issues expected to dominate the election campaign.

Pera found comfort from some members of centre-right parties but comments from the centre-left opposition were scathing.

"His speech is very dangerous if you consider that Italy is a country that lives at the centre of the Mediterranean," said Bobo Craxi, a parliamentarian who recently defected from the centre-right to the centre-left.

Italy's Senate Speaker claims that "Mixed blood is an attack on European civilization"