Madrid - Spain and Italy "clarified" their spat over Madrid's immigration policies on Friday, after Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni described Spain's system as "permissive," Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega has said.

Maroni had claimed in an interview with Italian media on Thursday that there were now less than 120,000 Roma Gypsies in Italy, because many of them had gone to "the more permissive Spain of (Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez) Zapatero."

Spain has previously criticized Italy's immigration policies as excessively harsh.

Vega said the Spanish government had had "some contacts" with the Italian foreign ministry, that Maroni had clarified his statement and that the matter had been settled. (dpa)