Italy's Berlusconi forms new government (Agencies) Updated: 2005-04-23 20:07
![](xin_5704022320120652992119.jpg) Italian
Premier Silvio Berlusconi makes a statement to the press after talks with
Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi at Rome's Quirinale Presidential
Palace, Friday, April 22, 2005.
[AP] |
Conservative leader Silvio Berlusconi formed a new government on Saturday,
presenting a list of ministers to Italy's president. He was to be sworn in later
in the day.
Berlusconi received a mandate to govern during a meeting Friday with
President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, only two days after he quit as prime minister in
a power struggle with his coalition allies. With his reconstituted government,
the Italian media magnate hopes to improve his sagging popularity and remain in
power until the next election, due in mid-2006.
After a meeting at the presidential palace on Saturday, Berlusconi presented
his Cabinet, saying he would keep Gianfranco Fini, head of the right-wing
National Alliance party, as his foreign minister, and that he had chosen former
Economics Minister Giulio Tremonti as deputy premier.
The government was to be sworn in at 6 p.m. (noon EDT), said Gaetano Gifuni,
an official at the president's Quirinale Palace.
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