Berlusconi set to form new Italian Government

Seven years after his first, stormy tenure, media baron and conservative leader Silvio Berlusconi was tonight poised to get his chance to govern Italy again.

Berlusconi was meeting President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi to receive a mandate to form a government, a constitutional formality under the Italian system.

The meeting came after Ciampi spent two days consulting political leaders, parliament speakers and former presidents of the republic.

Berlusconi is expected to submit his Cabinet line-up to Ciampi quickly - possibly on Sunday.

Once the president approves the line-up, Berlusconi becomes premier and head of what will be Italy’s 59th government since the end of the Second World War will be quickly sworn in.

Berlusconi has been working since the May election on how to divide up the ministries among his partners, which include a former neo-fascist party, former Christian Democrats and the Northern League, which is pushing for the central government to cede more power to regional governments.

All the main parties in the coalition have demanded key ministries, to the sometimes public irritation of Berlusconi, a hard-driving business executive used to having his own way. Some of his choices have made partners unhappy, but the coalition appears intact.

Two of his closest allies, Northern League leader Umberto Bossi and Gianfranco Fini of the once-fascist National Alliance, were both disappointed when Berlusconi chose as parliament speakers a prominent member of his own Forza Italia party and the head of a small centrist party.

Bossi and Fini were also part of the conservative coalition when the media magnate served as premier for the first time in 1994. His government fell after a stormy seven months when Bossi withdrew support.