Silvio needs therapy, says Spanish MP

Silvio Berlusconi's much-quoted remarks on Spain's female-heavy government - more than half of the cabinet are women, which he thinks is far "too pink" - have prompted an angry reaction from Bibiana Aido (pictured), Spain's equality minister, who believes the Italian Prime Minister should seek therapy to cure his rampant sexual prejudices. However, Ms Aido, who at 31 is the youngest cabinet minister in Spanish history, is not hopeful about the outcome of such treatment. "I do not know if it would be very effective. He would need many sessions," she said yesterday.

Shortly after Spain's president Jose Zapatero appointed nine women to his 17-member cabinet in April, Berlusconi announced that "he'll have problems leading them". Thus far, this has not proved the case. Given Berlusconi's general attitude to women, not unlike a callow Roman youth soliciting girls at the Trevi fountain, many will feel Aido has a point.

Berlusconi himself has appointed only four women to his 21-member cabinet, and one of these is 32-year-old Mara Carfagna, nicknamed Mara La Bella, a former beauty queen Berlusconi once said he would like to marry, prompting a complaint from his wife who then forced him to apologise in a national newspaper. And, as The First Post reported, he was recently caught on camera in the Italian parliament flirting with two recently installed (younger) female delegates.