Incoming premier Romano Prodi said on Friday that his government would be up and running within ten days. "The government will be in place within ten days and will be a lasting one," said Prodi, who won a wafer-thin victory over outgoing premier Silvio Berlusconi at the polls a month ago.
The centre-left chief stressed that he was continuing work on the tricky task of putting together his cabinet but refused to give details, telling reporters "it's pointless you asking for news which I cannot and don't want to give". Meanwhile, Democratic Left (DS) chief Piero Fassino, whose party is the largest in the coalition, revealed that he would not be joining the government.
The former justice minister said he would remain outside the cabinet to focus on running his party.
He said it would have have an "authoritative and strong" team in the government led by former premier and DS Chairman Massimo D'Alema. Prodi stressed earlier this week that he was anxious to have D'Alema on board.
The influential politician has already been forced to step aside twice - once in favour of Communist Refoundation Party (PRC) chief Fausto Bertinotti for the job of House Speaker and again in favour of Giorgio Napolitano for the post of president.
Prodi said D'Alema's inclusion would help make his government "politically strong" and the press has speculated that the 57-year-old former Communist will be made foreign minister as well as deputy premier. The DS is expected to receive five or six ministries in all, with heavyweights Luciano Violante, a former House speaker, slated to take over the reform portfolio and
Pierluigi Bersani to return to his former industry spot.
Prodi, a former European Commission chief, will probably be appointed by new head of state Giorgio Napolitano next Tuesday or Wednesday. He has said he will be ready by then to present the president, an 80-year-old ex-Communist, with his full cabinet list.
Napolitano was elected by members of the Senate and House and regional representatives on Wednesday morning but on the votes of Prodi's coalition alone. It was a key victory for Prodi. Not only did it mean he could finally take office but it also showed his unwieldly and potentially fractious nine-party coalition could pull together when needed.
The coalition ranges from Communists and anti-clericalists to staunch Catholics, making unity as difficult as it is crucial given Prodi's slim majority. Under a controversial electoral reform law, forced through by the centre right just before the election and
returning Italy to proportional representation, Prodi has a relatively solid hold over the House even though he won there by just 25,000 votes.
But in the Senate, where he lost the popular vote, Prodi has just two more seats than Berlusconi's alliance, which has vowed to challenge his government at every possible turn. The job of forming a coalition government, difficult at the best of times, is even tougher for Prodi with nine essential allies vying for posts and visibility and all demanding to be contented.
Prodi has said he is keen to include Giuliano Amato, a 68-year-old former Socialist who served as premier from 1992-93 and again from 2000-2001 after D'Alema abruptly resigned following a local election defeat. Newspapers speculated that Amato, who was treasury chief in D'Alema's government, would be offered the weighty position of interior minister or justice minister.
The important post of economy minister is tipped to go to former European Central Bank board member Tommaso Padoa Schioppa, who met with Prodi on Thurday afternoon. Most experts agree that Padoa Schioppa, who is not a party affiliate, is an ideal choice to boost confidence in Italy's ability to fix its deteriorating finances and help boost its stagnant economy.
Over the past five years, GDP growth in Italy has averaged less than 0.7% a year while the country's debt mountain - the third biggest in the world - is on the rise again and has been forecast by the European Commission to hit 107.4% of GDP this year.
Meanwhile, the centrist, Catholic-oriented Daisy party - the second biggest party after the DS - is also angling for five or six ministries in the new government. According to the media, Daisy leader and former Rome mayor Francesco Rutelli, who was defeated by Berlusconi in the 2001 election, is likely to be offered the culture ministry and the job of deputy premier along with D'Alema.
Prodi will have a harder task in appeasing his smaller allies, with the media already predicting a showdown between centrist, Catholic UDEUR chief Clemente Mastella and top Radical Emma Bonino for the post of defence minister. There was an exchange of crossfire earlier this month when Bonino, a former European commissioner for human rights, said she was better qualified for the job than Mastella, who was still bristling at being passed over for the Senate speakership.
Mastella's party stepped up the pressure on Friday, issuing a statement saying that it would set up a "non-stop monitoring committee" on Tuesday to monitor the "very confused political situation and to take the necessary decisions regarding the formation of the new government". At the same time, prosecutor-turned-politician Antonio Di Pietro urged Prodi to chose "competent ministers" with experience of the ministries assigned to them.
Some political analysts said Di Pietro, who heads the Italy of Values party, was angling for the justice ministry.
