A happy Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi was sworn into office today by Italian president Giorgio Napolitano, having formed a new government, the fourth since the media magnate entered politics in 1994, in what is being described as record time. The government of 21 cabinet ministers, which next week will face a vote of confidence in the Italian parliament, takes over from the government headed by Romano Prodi and roundly defeated in the elections held in April.

        The new government of 12 ministers with portfolio and 11 without was formed in record time - only three weeks - for Italy but not without drawn-out and sometimes bitter negotiations. There were tensions between the two parties that make up Berlusconi's PdL, the Freedom People's Party (Forza Italia and the rightwing Alleanza Nazionale), and again between those two and the Northern League, which won 10% of the vote and at the outset had demanded eight cabinet ministers.

       In the end Forza Italia won the lion's share of cabinet posts with 12 out of 21, including Economy, Foreign Affaire, Welfare, Culture, Education and Justice. The Lega got four cabinet posts including Interni (police), Federalist Reform, Agriculture and Semplification and Alleanza Nazionale, which had pushed unsuccessfully for Welfare, got four: Defense, Infrastructure and Transport, European Union relations and Youth Policy.

        Berlusconi had promised there would be four women in the new government but only two of these, bother belonging to Forza Italia, have portfolio posts, Education and Environment. Four out of 21 is not much better than the Prodi government's record which had six women out of a total of 25 cabinet posts. It is also notable for the small number of Catholic politicians, although this may change next week after the appintment of ten deputy ministers, some of whom will be in charge of important sectors such as health, transport and communications, and 30 undersecretaries. Current legislation allows a government to have no more than 60 components, including undersecretaries, slightly more thant half of the number in the Prodi government.

         The Italian region with the greatest representation is Lombardy, with five ministers. The Veneto, Campania and Sicily each have three ministers, Lazio and Tuscany two and Liguria, Umbria and Puglia one each.In addition, 13 of the new ministers have never before held government office and four are under 40 years of age. This, together with the fact that Berlusconi has foregone the usual two deputy prime ministers, has led analysts to suppose that the 71-year old media magnate intends to dominate politics in an unprecedented fashion.