Berlusconi says wife must apologize

ROME, May 4 (UPI) -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says he owes no apology to his estranged wife, Veronica Lario -- in fact, she owes one to him, he says.

Lario announced Sunday that she was filing for divorce from the colorful Italian premier, criticizing her husband for selecting attractive young women to be candidates for his party in European Parliament elections to be held next month, the British newspaper The Guardian reported.

But in a front-page interview Monday with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Berlusconi fired back, saying Lario is being manipulated and asserting that she will have to apologize if their marriage is to be saved.

"I am indignant," Berlusconi reportedly said. "Veronica has fallen into a trap. And I know who she is being advised by. Or rather, being incited by."

Asked by the newspaper if he thought their marriage could be salvaged, he said, "I don't think so. I don't know if I want that this time. Veronica will have to apologize to me publicly. And I don't know if it would be enough. It's the third time in an election campaign that she has pulled a stunt of this kind. It really is too much," the Guardian translated.