ITALY: Italy's acting prime minister Silvio Berlusconi said he expected to have a new cabinet list ready by today although he indicated that he still had some problems to resolve with his rebellious allies.
"I will be ready with the list . . . as early as tomorrow," Mr Berlusconi told reporters during a brief shopping trip in central Rome yesterday.
Mr Berlusconi resigned on Wednesday following a split in his four-year-old coalition government, but is looking to overcome the divisions by revamping his cabinet and policy priorities.
Italy's president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi is due to decide whether Mr Berlusconi has the necessary support to take back power and form a new government after he finishes consulting party heads at noon today.
If Mr Berlusconi fails to put his team back together, Mr Ciampi would almost certainly be forced to call a snap general election, one year ahead of time.
One of the main problems facing Mr Berlusconi is to find a new balance of power between the four main coalition partners, who were jolted by a disastrous performance in regional elections earlier this month.
Two of the allies, the Union of Christian Democrats (UDC) and the National Alliance (AN), have complained that Mr Berlusconi gave too much prominence to the junior coalition partner, the Northern League, and have urged him to cut it down to size.
The league is resisting any such manoeuvring and has refused UDC and AN demands that it yield the high-profile reforms portfolio in the new cabinet.