Italy’s Government Changes but the Sniping Remains

Italy swore in its 58th postwar government Wednesday with a new prime minister but the same bickering center-left parties.

Ominously for the future of his eight-party coalition, Prime Minister Giuliano Amato--a 61-year-old known as “Dr. Subtle” for his political finesse--proved unable to quell squabbling over Cabinet posts even long enough for the oath-taking.

The ceremony at the presidential palace took place with 23 of Amato’s appointees attending and one vacant brocade chair--left empty after Edo Ronchi of the Greens rejected the post of European Union minister in anger over not being offered the job of environment minister.

The flap gave the government its first crisis before it even had its new mandate, and raised the possibility that the Greens would pull out of the government.

“Good luck,” former Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema told Amato, shaking his successor’s hand for the cameras. D’Alema was brought down by much the same kind of quarreling.

Amato was treasury minister under D’Alema, who stepped down last week after a conservative opposition alliance trounced the center-left’s candidates in regional voting.

Some have criticized Amato’s Cabinet picks, which were announced Tuesday night. Except for the names at the top, the new list is filled with names familiar from previous center-left governments--including that of Lamberto Dini, who has hung on to his job as foreign minister under three premiers now.

“It’s a formation that speaks for itself, put in place with the sole purpose of keeping the left in power,” said Silvio Berlusconi, a media mogul who heads the opposition alliance and is eager for what would be his second turn as premier.

Center-left Sen. Antonio Di Pietro faulted Amato for making Cabinet choices that seemed to have more to do with political expediency than expertise. “They’ve only shuffled the seats,” he complained.