Berlusconi launches Italy on rocky road to reform

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has unveiled ambitious plans to reform parliament in a long-awaited overhaul of the Italian constitution that should boost the premier's powers and speed up lawmaking.

Allies hope the project will put an end to Italy's revolving-door governments but critics say it may also consolidate Mr Berlusconi's already extensive personal influence.

The government announced late on Tuesday that it aimed to have the new law on the statute books before the end of next year, finally getting its reform programme into top gear after months of feuding within the centre-right coalition.

However, the centre-left opposition is expected to fight the bill and there are indications that President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi is uncomfortable with the draft law.

Italy's constitution was drawn up in the wake of World War Two and included numerous checks and balances to prevent the rise of another strongman like Fascist leader Benito Mussolini.

As a result, key powers are shared between the president, who is elected every seven years by parliament, and the prime minister, who is selected from the ranks of coalition parties.

The system has given smaller parties the chance to make or break coalition administrations at will and means that Italian governments have an average life expectancy of less than a year.

To help tackle the problems, Mr Berlusconi wants a prime minister to be given the personal powers to fire ministers, to dissolve parliament and call an election.

At present, only parliament can sack ministers through votes of no confidence, while only the president can call an election.

Against Mr Berlusconi's wishes, the bill does not foresee the direct election of a prime minister. But parties will have to say before elections whom they would choose as prime minister.

Mr Berlusconi's opponents argue that if he wins another term under these rules there will be fewer restraints on his clout, which is already huge thanks to a media empire that gives him effective control over 90 per cent of Italian television.

"These proposals will help create a personal republic for Berlusconi," Giovanni Sartori, an independent constitutional expert, told Reuters. "It destroys the workings of parliament, substitutes it with a personal democracy for the prime minister ..and leaves the president basically a cardboard cutout."