Speaking to reporters after talks in Rome with Prodi, the premier said they had also agreed on the importance of mending recent rifts within the EU and with the United States caused by divergencies over the Iraq war.

"After what's happened, Europe must first recover its unity and then learn how to work together so as to avoid divisions in the future," he said during a visit to San Giuliano di Puglia, the central town where an October earthquake caused 29 deaths.

Over the Iraq issue, Britain, Denmark and Spain have supported the US-led war, while France and Germany oppose it. Italy has given political support but is not contributing troops or equipment.

Berlusconi also referred to polemics sparked by news that 1,000US paratroopers flown into northern Iraq had left from a base near the northern Italian city of Vicenza.

He said Thursday that these troops would be used primarily to "secure stability in the area and to begin humanitarian relief work for the local people." But Italian center-left opposition argued that the use of an Italian base for direct military action in Iraq was in breach of the Italian Constitution.

(Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2003)