The office of Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, has taken the unusual step of denying reports that he boasted to Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, that he had "given him his woman".

In a sotto voce aside during a Franco-Italian summit last week, Mr Berlusconi was said to have remarked, in a mixture of French and Italian, "Moi, je t'ai donné la tua donna" ("Me, I gave you your woman"), a reference to the Italian-born French First Lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

A spokesman said that Mr Berlusconi's actual remark – in French, which Mr Berlusconi speaks fluently – was "Tu sais que j'ai étudié à la Sorbonne" ("You know I studied at the Sorbonne."). Mr Berlusconi claims to have been a student in Paris. Officials at the Sorbonne say they have no record of this, though he may have attended a summer language course.

Two Italian lawmakers had said that they would lodge a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights over Mr Berlusconi's "sexist" remarks. Anna Paola Concia, of the left-wing Democratic Party, and Donata Gottardi, a leftwing Euro MP, said that Mr Berlusconi had breached the European Convention of Human Rights with "his repeated statements that offend female dignity".

The original version of the aside was given by the French TV channel Canal Plus, based on lip reading.

In January Mr Berlusconi started a row when he claimed that it would be impossible to prevent all rapes in his country by deploying troops as "we would need as many soldiers as there are beautiful girls in Italy".

He later said that his remarks were meant as a compliment to Italian women, and accused his critics of lacking a sense of humour.

He also prompted a row with Argentina last month by making a reference to the practice during that country's "dirty war" in the late 1970s of drugging political prisoners and dumping them into the sea from aircraft.

Mr Berlusconi referred to "that Argentinian dictator who did away with his opponents by taking them up in an aeroplane with a football, then opening the door and saying 'it's a nice day outside, go and play'". He added: "It's funny, but it's dramatic." Buenos Aires summoned the Italian ambassador to demand an explanation.

Ms Bruni said last year that she was glad she had become a French citizen and was no longer Italian, after Mr Berlusconi, who is noted for his gaffes, had embarrassed Italians by referring to the then President-elect Barack Obama as "suntanned". She later appeared on an Italian TV chat show to claim she had dual nationality and was still proud to be Italian.

Times Recommends

• UN may halt 400-year-old 'freedom of the seas'
• Where the Rosetta belongs can’t be set in stone
• Gas deal on hold, but Ukraine may pay in the end