Brussels, 09/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - Speaking before the press on Tuesday in Brussels, Italian Community Affairs Minister Rocco Buttiglione clearly distanced himself from the insulting remarks made by his colleague, Under Secretary of State for Tourism Stefano Stefani, about the Germans (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.5). Immediately describing them as "outrageous blunders" and evoking a certain number of great names in German culture, Mr Buttiglione asked: "Is it possible for a great nation like Germany to be sensitive to obsolete clichés from someone who is not in the top rank, with all due respect?" The minister added that "Germany is the country that is perhaps the closest to our own" especially in so far as "we have lived through totalitarianism together".