Romano Prodi has formed Italy's 61st postwar government, more than a month after his center-left coalition narrowly won parliamentary elections, the Associated Press reported. Prodi on Wednesday submitted his Cabinet list to President Giorgio Napolitano. The government was expected to be sworn in later in the day. The premier said he had "great desire for cohesion and unity in the country." Prodi named Massimo D'Alema, a former Communist and ex-premier, as foreign minister and Tommaso Padoa Schioppa, a former European Central Bank executive board member, as economy minister. Former Socialist premier Giuliano Amato was named as interior minister, who is in charge of police forces, and a longtime Prodi aide, centrist Arturo Parisi, was appointed to the post of defense minister. The Cabinet was formed after last-minute meetings with party leaders in Prodi's varied coalition, and after some bickering over key posts. The government must now win a confidence vote in parliament. Prodi said the Cabinet would go before the lower house of parliament starting Thursday, and would appear before the Senate early next week.
