Berlusconi manages to raise German ire

Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi has sparked outrage in Germany after he claimed that “for the Germans, concentration camps never existed”.

He was referring to a previous gaffe in which he told EP Parliament President Martin Schulz, a candidate for the EU Commission President elections, that he could play a Nazi concentration camp guard in a film.

His latest comments were at a rally in Milan ahead of the European elections.

German Families Minister Manuela Schwesig said Berlusconi's "attacks" against Germans were "unspeakable".

"I know that in Italy there is a man producing a film on Nazi concentration camps - I shall put you forward for the role of Kapo [guard] - you would be perfect,” Berlusconi had told Schulz in 2003.

The media mogul, who is campaigning for the European elections on behalf of his centre-right party despite a tax-fraud conviction, was defending the comments he made in 2003.

"I didn't want to insult him. But heavens above, according to the Germans, there never were concentration camps," he said.

"There is a man, called Schulz, who does not like Berlusconi, or Italy. Voting for the left means voting for him," he added.

The president of Schulz's Socialists and Democrats (S&D) bloc, Hannes Swoboda, called Berlusconi's latest comments "sickening".

This is the latest in a long line of Berlusconi comments to have sparked criticism.

Berlusconi is one of Italy's richest men and served as prime minister for nine months from May 1994 and then again for two terms from 2001 to 2006 and from 2008 to 2011.

He faced frequent allegations of conflicts of interest but it was Italy's debt crisis that forced his resignation in 2011.