Prodi sworn in as Italian premier

Centre-left leader Romano Prodi today formed Italy’s 61st post-war government, putting an internationally respected economist in charge of the country’s struggling finances and naming a former Communist as foreign minister.

Prodi’s taking office as premier ends a five-week political limbo following bitterly contested elections that his coalition narrowly won over Silvio Berlusconi’s conservatives.

Prodi submitted his Cabinet list to President Giorgio Napolitano a day after receiving the mandate to form a government – a formality under the Italian system.

Hours later he and the other Cabinet members were sworn in at the presidential palace.

“It’s a team that will last the entire legislature,” Prodi vowed.

“It is very homogeneous and I hope it will get along well.”

Trying to reassure international markets after weeks of political vacuum and amid the country’s zero-growth economy, Prodi chose as his economy minister Tommaso Padoa Schioppa, an internationally respected economist and former European Central Bank executive board member.