ROME – An influential Catholic newspaper urged Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi on Friday to respond to allegations that women were paid to attend his parties.
Avvenire, the newspaper of Italy's bishops conference, ran an editorial saying the latest claims in a scandal linking Berlusconi to young women and models are raising questions not only among opponents but his supporters too.
The conservative premier has dismissed the entire scandal as a lie and a politically motivated plot by the opposition and left-leaning magistrates.
Earlier this week, Italy's Corriere della Sera published an interview with Patrizia D'Addario, a showgirl who was quoted as saying she was paid euro1,000 ($1,400) to attend a party at Berlusconi's Rome residence.
This was followed by reports that three other women had been paid and that D'Addario had given video and audio tapes proving her statements to prosecutors in the southern city of Bari who are investigating a local businessman for allegedly providing the women for the parties.
"It is necessary to make a clarification as soon as possible to answer pressing questions that are not coming only from political opponents but also from part of the public opinion that is not against the premier," Avvenire wrote.
Berlusconi, who was in Brussels on Friday, reiterated that the allegations were "garbage" and that he would "sweep them away." His top lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini, has dismissed the claims as baseless.
D'Addario's allegations have fueled a scandal that has enveloped the premier over his purported fondness for young women.
Berlusconi has been on the defensive ever since his wife announced she was divorcing him, citing his purported selection of starlets and beauty queens for this month's European Parliamentary elections and his presence at the birthday party in Naples of an 18-year-old model.
Berlusconi has said there was nothing scandalous in his relationship with Noemi Letizia, whom he has said was the daughter of an old friend from political circles. He said he went to the party because he happened to be in Naples that day.
Despite the scandal, Berlusconi's party won a majority of Italy's seats in the European Parliament electionsand also swept several local races from the center-left Democratic Party.
By ARIEL DAVID, Associated Press Write
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090619/ap_on_re_eu/eu_italy_berlusconi
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