Italy's PM set to unveil cabinet

Berlusconi, left, at the presidential palace with Ciampi, right

ROME, Italy -- Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is expected to present his team of ministers to Italy's president on Sunday after accepting a mandate to form the next government.

Berlusconi spent up to 90 minutes at the presidential palace on Saturday with president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi to receive the go-ahead, a constitutional formality.

He is expected to name his cabinet for approval on Sunday before being sworn in on Monday, palace sources told Reuters.

Berlusconi said: "In line with the results of the election held on May 13, the president has offered me a mandate to form the next government, which I am pleased to accept "con riserva."

Berlusconi's five-party centre-right coalition will form Italy's 59th government since World War II following its emphatic victory in elections last month in which it secured majorities in both houses of parliament.

It is seven years since Berlusconi held the reigns of power during a stormy seven-month tenure.

He has spent the past four weeks putting together his team, choosing from his own party and his alliance members, the right-wing National Alliance, two centrist parties and the devolutionist Northern League.

The League, led by the outspoken Umberto Bossi, looks set to win the justice ministry and Bossi himself could become institutional reforms minister with a place at the inner circle table together with right wing National Alliance leader Gianfranco Fini as deputy prime minister, Reuters said.

Forza Italia's Giulio Tremonti is expected to be named economy minister and Rocco Buttiglione is tipped to become EU affairs minister, Reuters added.

Ciampi, himself a former prime minister, has spent the past two days consulting with the newly elected speakers of both houses of parliament and the defeated centre-left bloc led by Francesco Rutelli, as is required by the protracted Italian political process.

The president's non-partisan role is largely ceremonial but he appoints a prime minister who is capable of commanding a majority in the parliament.

Berlusconi's alliance is expected to win the mandatory votes of confidence in both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of parliament

Two of the first tasks facing Berlusconi will be how to tackle the economy and how to stave off accusations of a conflict of interest between his new position and his media empire.

Berlusconi, 64, is Italy's richest man with a business fortune estimated to be in the realm of $11 billion, mainly in the publishing and media world.

He is expected to consign it to a blind trust, but the opposition has already said that does not go far enough.

Berlusconi also faces two more court cases, one on bribery charges, the other for false accounting.

The EU will watch how his government positions itself on issues such as global warming and EU enlargement.

Berlusconi is set to attend the NATO summit in Brussels on Wednesday and then travel to Gothenburg in Sweden for his first EU summit on June 15-16.