World

Ex-Communist Forms Italy Gov't

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

October 21, 1998 / 8:52 AM EDT / CBS

Massimo D'Alema announced on Wednesday he had formed Italy's 56th government since 1945, bringing Marxist ministers into office for the first time in half a century.

He presented his cabinet list to President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, who had given him a mandate on Monday to form a government to succeed one led by Romano Prodi, which fell in a knife-edge confidence vote on Oct. 9.

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, one of the most powerful and respected members of Prodi's outgoing center-left government, was reconfirmed in his post as treasury minister, one of seven ministers to keep their jobs. Vincenzo Visco stays at the Finance Ministry, and Lamberto Dini retains the foreign affairs portfolio.

Giuliano Amato, a former prime minister and treasury minister, was appointed a special minister for institutional reforms with responsibility for a key issue in a country notorious for its rocky politics. Italy's unstable electoral system is blamed for the country's "revolving door" governments.

Oliviero Diliberto, a member of the moderately Marxist Party of Italian Communists, received the justice portfolio and his party colleague, Katia Bellillo, regional affairs.

The new cabinet also doubles the number of women serving in ministerial positions to six.

It was the first time communists have been given jobs in government since a national unity administration folded in 1947.

The Marxists are one piece of the three-toned jigsaw D'Alema has pieced together to secure a parliamentary majority that includes two other major blocs.

"I believe we have found a balance between the demands of political affiliations that exist in a coalition government and personal qualities and qualifications," D'Alema told reporters at the president's Quirinale Palace.

D'Alema, 49, has 10 days from the swearing-in to hold a confidence vote on his new government. He said he wanted to present his policy program to the lower house Chamber of Deputies on Thursday morning.

Once he has laid out his policy stall to parliament, deputies will begin a debate leading to a confidence vote.

Aides say D'Alema wants to move quickly and have a parliamentary vote of confidence under his belt before the start of a European Union summit in Austria on Saturday.

Prodi's government fell after its hardline Communist Refoundation allies, in a battle over the 1999 budget, withdrew the key support they had given him since his election in April 1996.

D'Alema pledged on Monday to push through Prodi's budget, which contained $9 billion of deficit cuts, and unveiled a policy program little changed from that of his predecessor.

It committed Italy's new government to privatization, cutting taxes and labor costs to stoke employment and investment, offering incentives to help new businesses start up, and cracking down on tax evasion.

Asked if there had been any last-minute hitches in his cabinet formation, D'lema said: "There was no drama, just the problems you usually have in these cases."