Berlusconi asked to form Italian new government

2008-05-08 11:01:29 [ Big Normal Small ]    　Comment

ROME, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Italian President Giorgio Napolitano Wednesday evening asked center-right coalition leader Silvio Berlusconi to form a new Italian government, the 62nd since the end of WWII.

Berlusconi broke with protocol and made history by immediately accepting and handing the president a list of ministers who will be in his new government.

Traditionally, a candidate asked to form a government accepts "with reservations," only to return several days later with his list and a decision to lift his "reservations."

Berlusconi's new government, which will be sworn in Thursday afternoon, will be composed of 12 full ministers and a dozen or soministers without portfolio.

Napolitano took less than two days to consult with political forces represented in parliament, as well as his predecessors as head of state, before offering Berlusconi a mandate.

Berlusconi's People of Freedom party (PDL), allied with the devolutionist Northern League, firmly won Italy's snap elections last month with majorities in both the Lower House and Senate.

This is the third time that the 71-year-old media tycoon has led a government. The first was a brief executive following the 1996 elections and the second his full-term executive from 2001 to 2006, Italy's longest government.

Berlusconi's PDL is a fledgling party created before the elections through the merger of his Forza Italia party and the right-wing National Alliance (AN).

Forza Italia has the lion's share of ministerial posts, while AN and the Northern League, which ran on the same ticket as the PDL, will have a minority status.

Berlusconi's long-time aide Gianni Letta returns as cabinet secretary, while former economy minister Giulio Tremonti and former foreign minister Franco Frattini have their old jobs back.

As expected, the Northern League's Roberto Maroni will act as interior minister, while party leader Umberto Bossi will be in charge of reform and his deputy Roberto Calderoli will get a new post responsible for simplifying Italy's tangled maze of laws and regulations.

Ignazio La Russa, leader of the AN, is the new defense minister, while fellow AN members Altero Matteoli will hold the portfolio for public works and transport.

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