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Mr berlusconi, who won re-election this week, was earlier quoted as teeling Radio Monte Carlo: 'Zapatero has formed a government that is too pink,' something which he believed Italy could not do. -- PHOTO: AFP
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MADRID - SPAIN'S Socialist Party advised Italy's new Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday to employ more women in his cabinet after he suggested his Spanish counterpart's cabinet was 'too pink'.
Women outnumber men in Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's new government line-up, which includes the country's first female defence minister. Mr Zapatero's Socialists were re-elected last month.
'In Italy, as in Spain, there are enough women sufficiently qualified, intelligent and capable of being ministers or occupying other government posts,' said Ms Elena Valenciano, the Socialist Party's secretary for international relations.
She said in a statement that Mr Berlusconi should respect the decisions of prime ministers of other countries and follow Mr Zapatero's example.
'It would benefit politics and society in Italy.'
Mr Berlusconi, who won re-election this week, was earlier quoted as telling Radio Monte Carlo: 'Zapatero has formed a government that is too pink, (something) which we cannot do in Italy because there is a prevalence of men in politics and it isn't easy to find women who are qualified for government.'
'He'll have problems leading them,' Mr Berlusconi joked at a news conference on Tuesday, cited by the Spanish daily El Pais.
'Now he's asked for it,' the conservative Italian was also quoted as saying.
His jokes and comments were widely reported by Spain's media which have recently been filled with pictures of pregnant Defence Minister Carme Chacon inspecting the Spanish troops and of Mr Zapatero posing with his female ministers. -- REUTERS
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