(ANSA) - Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi says he's eager to debate his eventual rival for the premiership in next spring's general election provided the TV events aren't "rigged" - as he claimed they would have been last time.
Berlusconi said he had refused to face off with centre-left candidate Francesco Rutelli in the last general election in 2001 because he had been tipped off that the format, audience and moderator would be against him.
"They were organised ambushes with fake moderators and a rigged audience," he claimed.
Given assurances of equal time, clear and concise questions and lack of bias, he said he would be happy to thrash out issues and policies in "civilised debates, like in all democracies."
"You see, it gives the public an advantage too. They're tired of slanging matches and want to be clued up when they vote," the media magnate said. Berlusconi cited the current election debates in Germany between Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and conservative challenger Angela Merkel, as well as last year's debates in the United States between President George W. Bush and his
Democratic rival John Kerry.
Former European Commission president and ex-premier Romano Prodi is virtually certain of becoming the centre-left opposition candidate after primaries next month.
