Rome, 14/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - During the visit to Rome of a group of European journalists from Brussels, the Italian Prime Minister and current President of the European Council, Silvio Berlusconi, announced, on Friday evening, that he had accepted the resignation of the under-Secretary of State for Tourism, Stefano Stefani (Lega Nord), who had made insulting remarks about the Germans last week (see EUROPE of 9 July, p.5). In government circles of the Italian capital, it is thought that this resignation will finally put an end to the Italian-German tension caused by Mr Berlusconi's inappropriate behaviour before the European Parliament. During the afternoon prior to his resignation, the Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini had pointed out that he had "suffered personally" from Stefano Stefani's remarks. As for the incident in Strasbourg, he considered this as "closed" adding that "what happened that day will not have negative consequences on the Italian EU Presidency". In answer to questions about Mr Stefani's remarks, the Deputy Prime Minister, Gianfranco Fini, said for his part: "I do not believe he should remain at his post". He added that "an imbecile will always be an imbecile".