Richard Owen, Rome Correspondent of The Times, weighs up the chances of Romano Prodi's government surviving a full five-year term in power.

"The main weakness of Romano Prodi's new government is its very slim majority of only two in the Senate. Tomorrow he faces a vote of no confidence.

"He probably won't lose it as the Left will martial all its available forces, and the life senators with voting rights will wish to get his government off to a good start after what even President Napolitano described as a very bitter election campaign.

"They will also want to reassure financial markets that Prodi has a credible economic programme which he can deliver. So I think he will squeak through the Senate.

"His problem is that he is going to have to marshall his forces for every single subsequent vote, and given his wafer-thin majority, Berlusconi and the Right will be harrassing him at every opportunity in the hope of bringing him down.

"So Prodi is back - by a strange irony, exactly ten years to the day since the last time he became prime minister - but life is not going to be easy.

"His Cabinet contains few surprises, but has created a few strange bedfellows and some potential sources of friction. He had to try to please all of his coalition allies.

"He has appointed two deputy prime ministers because the rivalry between them could not be resolved. Massimo D'Alema is the leader of the Democrats of the Left, a former prime minister and an ex-communist; Francesco Rutelli is the head of the Daisy party, a former mayor of Rome who stood against Berlusconi in 2001.

"These two parties are really the core of the coalition and it is interesting that nine of the ministers are from the Democrats of the Left and seven are from the more centrist Daisy party under Rutelli. So Prodi has tried to keep a balance.

"To reinforce this he has chosen two neutral figures who both command huge respect: Tommaso Padoa Schioppa as minister of the economy, perhaps the most important role of them all given Italy's dire economic situation, and Giuliano Amato, another former prime minister, who is not allied to any particular faction and who will occupy the key post of minister of the interior.

"This is a sort of compensation for Amato, who had been seen as a candidate for head of state, the role that eventually went to Napolitano, from Democrats of the Left.

"Prodi has also given the important post of minister of justice to neither of the two main parties - it goes to Clemente Mastella, the head of the small, left-wing Christian Democrat faction. Prodi describes the final result as a cohesive team, but that remains to be seen.

"Signor Berlusconi has complained that the whole administration is left-leaning, under a left-wing president. He says that this does not reflect the election result, which was very close-run between Right and Left.

"One of Prodi's main aims will be to ensure that both and he and his government survive. Last time his administration lasted five years, but he himself was defeated by a single vote in a confidence motion after two and a half years as prime minister. He has vowed that, this time, he will match Berlusconi who served a full, five year term."

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