President asks Berlusconi to form new cabinet

Italy’s president has asked Silvio Berlusconi to form a new government, two days after the conservative media mogul stepped down as Italy’s premier following a crushing defeat in a regional election.

President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi made the decision after two days of talks with political leaders.

He gave Berlusconi the mandate to form Italy’s 60th government during a meeting at the presidential Quirinale Palace. “The president of the republic has given me the mandate to form a new government,” Berlusconi told reporters.

Berlusconi resigned on Wednesday saying he wanted to immediately form a new, more solid government to strengthen his faltering centre-right coalition.

Berlusconi’s allies expressed their support for a second consecutive Cabinet earlier today.

“We are working toward the creation of a new (Berlusconi) Cabinet very soon,” Gianfranco Fini, the leader of the coalition’s second-largest party, said after talks with the president.

Fini’s support was key for Berlusconi as his National Alliance party had threatened to withdraw its ministers at the height of the crisis earlier this week. Fini is also demanding sweeping policy changes.

The crisis of the ruling conservative coalition stems from an embarrassing defeat suffered in regional elections earlier this month. Berlusconi’s allies demanded that he step down and form a reshuffled Cabinet – a technique used by several Italian premiers in the past to strengthen faltering coalitions.

Berlusconi, who was elected in 2001 and led Italy’s longest-serving post-war government, had resisted the move, sensing it would undermine his image as a new-style politician.

But he was eventually forced to give in after a government partner withdrew its ministers and the National Alliance also threatened to pull out.