Is Berlusconi serious or just being a politician?

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has made a fresh attempt to settle the row which followed his "Nazi" slur on a German politician.

Mr Berlusconi told the mass circulation German newspaper Bild in an interview published on Monday that his reputation as a workaholic meant that he was considered "almost German" himself.

[...]

He added that he shared some traditional German virtues.

"In Italy I am almost seen as a German for my workaholism, also because I am from Milan, the city where people work the hardest," he said.

"Work, work, work - I am almost a German."

There has been no response so far from the German Government to the comments.

Mr Berlusconi also mentioned his love for German culture stemming from his classical education.

"Of course for me Goethe is the master of German poetry," he said.

"And I naturally treasure all German philosophers from Kant to Nietzsche."

I can understand a political figure trying to spin things in a nice way to soothe frayed tempers. I can even understand a little reality fudging or philosophical compromise to get back on someone's good side (provided that behavior doesn't intellectually corrupt in the long term)...but that last sentence is just bad. I certainly never expected Berlusconi to be a beacon of capitalism, but naming Kant isn't what I expected at all. Why not just come out and mention Hegel and Marx?

Bad Silvio! Bad!