New Italian Premier Woos Lawmakers

Appealing for a parliamentary vote of confidence, rookie Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Monday promised Italians a fairer, more open and efficient government based on free-market economics and political dialogue.

The billionaire media tycoon, who entered politics earlier this year, must win confirming votes from both houses for his new conservative government. His coalition, built around federalist and neo-fascist allies, has a clear majority in the Chamber of Deputies but not in the Senate, which votes Wednesday.

Addressing the Senate on Monday, the entrepreneur presented a government plan that he said would create “a freer, fairer and more modern Italy.”

He said his coalition embodies “the unity and indivisibility” of the country, a clear reference to fears awakened by his government partners from the Northern League, who sometimes speak of federalizing Italy into three regional republics.

“Judge this government on facts, not prejudice,” he urged. He said his own reputation and the checks and balances built into the constitution should reassure critics who worry about potential conflicts of interest between his official role and his vast business empire.

In his 55-minute maiden address, the 57-year-old Berlusconi also pledged to combat “racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism.”

On a get-acquainted visit to Brussels over the weekend, Antonio Martino, Italy’s new foreign minister, was careful to assure Italy’s European Union partners that there are no Mussolini-style fascists in the Berlusconi government.

Italy’s commitment to the EU, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Helsinki accords on human rights will be cornerstones of his foreign policy, Berlusconi told the 315 elected and 11 life senators.

Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (Go Italy), the Northern League of Umberto Bossi and the neo-fascist National Alliance of Gianfranco Fini are a few votes short of the 164 they will need Wednesday if all senators vote.

Berlusconi, sworn in last week after victory in March, expects to win enough supporting votes from centrist senators to win the mandatory confidence.

Inaugurating the 53rd Italian government since World War II and the first in which the now-shattered Christian Democrats sit in the opposition, Berlusconi won a standing ovation with a pledge to continue the government’s anti-Mafia crackdown, personified by two Sicilian magistrates who were murdered for their crusade against organized crime.

He urged Italians to overcome pessimism induced by the corruption scandals because “universal skepticism risks turning into a subtle and lethal poison.”

On the economic front, Berlusconi told senators, his government will pursue an ongoing program to privatize telecommunications, electricity, energy and insurance giants now in government hands. It will jump-start a sluggish economy by encouraging investment, he said, promising new jobs and reform of what he called a “pathological” confusion of taxes.