Premier Romano Prodi was locked in a fresh tussle with billionaire opposition chief Silvio Berlusconi on Friday over plans to toughen up Italy's conflict-of-interest legislation.
Prodi made it clear in a radio interview that he would not be daunted by opposition protests and would stick to his campaign pledge to overhaul the law.
"The government has made this commitment and the (proposed) legislation is blander than that in other democracies so I think it's right for it to go ahead," said the centre-left chief, who narrowly beat Berlusconi in last year's general election.
A draft reform law currently before the House Constitutional Affairs Committee is due to pass to the floor on May 14.
Prodi said that under the terms of the bill, wealthy businessmen would be able to opt for a blind trust if they wanted to pursue political careers and still retain their companies.
An article approved by the House committee on Thursday would prevent people with businesses worth more than 15 million euros from holding government office.
Those wishing to do so would be forced to sell their businesses or put them into a blind trust.
"We're not expecting people to emulate St. Francis (who gave up all material possessions)... The blind trust isn't a weird concept - it's typically American," said Prodi, a former European Commission chief.
But Berlusconi shot back that the reform bill was "an act of political assassination".
"It's further proof of the Left's desire to eliminate its most dangerous political adversary, namely myself," said the 70-year-old media magnate, who is Italy's richest man.
"We're not in America but in Italy, and things work differently here... Fixing a limit beyond which one has to take all one's assets and entrust them to a person who can do what he wants with them is completely crazy," said the former premier.
Since his entry into politics in 1993, Berlusconi has been dogged by criticism, both at home and abroad, for his dual role as powerful businessman and leading politician.
His family holding company Fininvest is an unlisted group worth an estimated 12 billion dollars.
Private TV network Mediaset is the jewel in the Fininvest crown but other prized assets include Italy's largest publishing house Mondadori, the financial services group Mediolanum, the AC Milan Serie A soccer club, the Medusa film production company, a key share of the Blockbuster Italia video chain and the Spanish TV group Telecinco.
The centre left was strongly criticised by its own supporters for failing to pass conflict-of-interest legislation when it was in power from 1996-2001.
A law was subsequently passed by Berlusconi's centre-right coalition in July 2004 which allowed the then premier to retain ownership of his companies providing he did not manage them himself.
Under the law, government officials are barred from holding management or operative roles in major private companies but not from owning them.
It affects all politicians involved in government, from the premier to undersecretaries.
Italy's Antitrust Authority has the task of monitoring the work of ministers to see that their acts do not benefit their own companies.
The centre left wanted much tougher rules.
Mediaset chief Fedele Confalonieri recently accused Prodi of targeting Berlusconi and trying to dismantle his business empire.
"Thousands of jobs are at risk," he said.
Political observers speculate that Berlusconi could benefit from Prodi's wafer-thin majority in the Senate, which will make it difficult for him to pass legislation perceived as damaging to the opposition chief's interests.
Although the premier enjoys a comfortable majority in the House, he holds only two more seats than Berlusconi in the Senate.
But Prodi also faces a difficult task in keeping his own disparate, nine-party coalition united over the reform.
Hard leftists in the governing alliance together with the small Italy of Values headed by former anti-graft prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro want wealthy businessmen to be automatically ineligible for government office.
But other parties are taking a more moderate stance, including the Democratic Left, the largest party in government.
They argue that such businessmen have the constitutional right to enter politics if they choose but must then decide what to do with their businesses.
