Leading Article: Drawing the line for Berlusconi

PRESIDENT Oscar Scalfaro of Italy yesterday demonstrated again the high sense of responsibility that has characterised his tenure as head of state during the tense and unpredictable course of the Italian political revolution. It was in conformity with the rituals of the old republic that the media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi ascended the Quirinal Hill to present his list of ministers at the presidential palace. But it was in keeping with the harsh new times that Mr Scalfaro, relying on the moral authority inherent in his office, imposed unprecedented public conditions on Mr Berlusconi's Cabinet.

A political novice at the beginning of this year, Mr Berlusconi is now set to move into the office of prime minister at the head of an alliance created and sustained by his own personality and by the power of his private television networks. It is made up of his own Forza Italia movement, the Northern League and the neo-Fascists. Constructing a cabinet was therefore a delicate performance requiring compromise among the ambitions of Forza Italia, the separatist instincts of the Northern League and the centralising traditions of the old Italian right wing.

That is why Mr Scalfaro was reflecting what are surely the sentiments of a vast majority of Italians when he called on Mr Berlusconi to ensure that his key ministers kept firm to the consensus that still governs the post-war settlement in Italy. The two key ministries at the heart of the Italian state are those of foreign affairs and the interior. Under the old regime, the Christian Democrats always tried to keep foreign affairs in their grip but had to relinquish it when the Socialist Party, now all but extinct, came to play a leading role in government.

Mr Scalfaro insisted that the new foreign minister should pledge full loyalty to Italy's alliances, its traditional policy of a united Europe and a policy of peace. Mr Berlusconi agreed. That should silence those on the far right who foolishly argue that Italy should repudiate the Treaty of Osimo and reclaim its lost lands on the Dalmatian coast.

The Ministry of the Interior was never once given up by the Christian Democrats after 1946, and it acquired a reputation for arbitrary power and murky intrigue. It is now to be in the hands of the Northern League, an arrangement that should work in subtle fashion to prevent a concentration of state power in one party's hands.

Mr Scalfaro, again, was right to insist that its new incumbent should submit to the national will for a single and indivisible Italy. He also made clear that the new interior minister should uphold the principles of freedom and legality. These are all affirmations in keeping with concerns expressed recently in the European Parliament.

Mr Berlusconi has yet to prove that he can govern well, live up to his economic promises and divide his private business interests from his prime ministerial power. Italy has reason to be grateful that Mr Scalfaro has defined clear and desirable limits for the new regime.