On Monday, 72-year-old Berlusconi promised that there was "nothing, nothing at all" going on between himself and Noemi Letizia, despite the fact that he attended the young woman's birthday party last month. Berlusconi's wife Veronica Lario said she wanted a divorce after it was reported that her husband gave Letizia a gold and diamond necklace.

Berlusconi said he attended the birthday party because he knows the model's father and that he happened to be in Naples that day. Berlusconi said the allegations that he is romantically involved with the teenager were part of a political smear campaign against him.

"Those who use a private matter as a motive to launch a political attack are behaving in an undignified manner," Berlusconi told CNN on Monday. He promised that the accusations would "boomerang against those who have started (them)."

The scandal comes as Berlusconi's center-right People of Freedom (PDL) party is campaigning for next month's European Parliament elections. The PDL is ahead in the latest polls, according to the AFP news agency.

Berlusconi said he was confident that the majority of Italians were behind him and that the European parliament election next month would bear this out.

th/AFP/AP/dpa

Editor: Susan Houlton