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Germans, Italians turn on 'charm'
LONDON, England (CNN) -- The battle between Germany and Italy, fueled by verbal barbs between politicians, has entered a new phase: The charm offensive. In an effort to win friends and influence tourists, the European neighbors have launched campaigns to repair the damage caused by anti-German jibes and a decision by the German leader to call off his family's vacation in Italy as a result. Italian officials have invited journalists in Brussels, the seat of government for the European Union, to fly to Rome and dine with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi -- who sparked the recent war of words with Germany -- as well as other Italian cabinet members. And the German newspaper Bild, which only a few days ago was urging German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to stay well away from Italy, is now attempting to win over Italians -- albeit somewhat tongue in cheek. The mass-circulation paper is organizing free flights for Germans who want to spread goodwill in Italy. "Bild will show how friendly, cheerful and pleasant German holidaymakers really are," the paper said. It also published Bild also published a list of Italian phrases that Germans might find handy while in that country. These included: "Take your greasy eyes off my wife," "Great wine, do you have any other warm drinks?," "May I offer you my deckchair," and "Do you mind if I spend my euros here?" On Thursday, Bild used a more brazen approach to promoting Germany by staging a "beach demonstration" in front of the Italian embassy in Berlin. It included topless models on deckchairs to prove, as Bild says, how "beautiful, sexy and charming" the Germans are. The crisis came to a head this week after Schroeder said he would spend his vacation in his hometown of Hanover instead of the Adriatic resort of Pesaro. He made the decision after Italian tourist minister Stefano Stefani refused to apologize for calling German tourists "stereotyped blondes with a hyper-nationalist pride" who were invading Italian beaches. Stefani's comments, made in a right-wing Italian newspaper, came a week after Berlusconi -- on the first day in Italy's six-month EU -- insulted a member of the European Parliament by saying he would have made a good "Kapo," or Nazi commandant, in a film being made in Italy. The German government responded with anger – as did many politicians inside and outside the country. Berlusconi eventually phoned Schroeder, allegedly to apologize, according to the Germans. Although the Schroeder said the issue was closed, Berlusconi later muddied the waters by saying he had, in fact, not apologized and expressed concern that people had taken his "Nazi" joke the wrong way. Franco Frattini, the Italian foreign minister, has in his turn apologized to the Germans saying of course they are still welcome on Italian beaches, and that Stefani was completely out of order.
The industry minister Antonio Marzano has also criticized Stefani for his comments. Their efforts to smooth things over are prompted by economists as much as politics. More than 9.2 million Germans visited Italy last year -- about 25 percent of all foreign visitors -- according to Italian tourism officials. It is estimated that they spent 9.5 billion euros ($10.7 billion).
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