Berlusconi "wants more EU influence"

ROME (Reuters) - Italian prime minister-elect Silvio Berlusconi said on Wednesday he would help the EU regain the influence he said it had lost since he was last in power and called for the European Central Bank's mandate to be broadened.

Speaking on one of his own television channels after winning Italy's April 13-14 election, Berlusconi said the EU needed a "top leadership squad" to make it count in the world.

"There is a need to reconstruct a Europe that has a leading role in the Western world that can tackle with determination the problems facing the world," said the 71-year-old conservative media mogul, who is expected to take office next month.

In later comments that could anger some of Italy's European Union partners, for whom ECB independence is sacrosanct, Berlusconi said its mandate should be widened beyond keeping inflation in check. He did not specify what he meant, but in the past he has urged the central bank to support economic growth.

Rules set out in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty give the ECB the power to pursue its primary goal of maintaining price stability free of political influence.

"I believe the ECB's functions need to be widened beyond the power to control inflation," Berlusconi told a news conference.

Italy's third-richest man and owner of AC Milan soccer club, Berlusconi said during the election campaign he wanted to "intervene" with the ECB and would discuss it with EU leaders such as France's Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany's Angela Merkel.

Sarkozy has repeatedly called for action to curb the sharp rise in the value of the euro, while Germany has vigorously defended the ECB's independence from politicians.

Berlusconi often blames the euro for the underperformance of Italy's economy, echoing the opinion of many Italians who say their spending power has waned since they gave up the lira. Exporters complain the strong euro makes them less competitive.

Berlusconi's victory had been expected to deal a final blow to the sale of loss-making Alitalia to Air France-KLM, which has been blocked by unions.

Berlusconi wants a home-grown rescue, but has left the door open to the foreign bid if Alitalia is given equal footing in any future international airline group.

ITALY ISOLATED

In his second term as premier from 2001-2006, Berlusconi was accused of isolating Italy within Europe by concentrating on relations with the United States, Russia and Israel.

Berlusconi famously made the sign of the cuckold behind a Spanish minister's head at a summit photo call, and shocked the European Parliament in July 2003 by likening a German lawmaker to a concentration camp guard.

Romano Prodi, who beat him in the 2006 election, tried to refocus on Europe in his 20 months as premier. But Prodi, the former European Commission president, was forced out of office in January when his centre-left coalition collapsed.

Berlusconi said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had invited him to London, and he had spoken to Merkel and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Seen as a staunch ally of Washington in its "war on terror", Berlusconi said President George W. Bush had invited him to a dinner in the United States, though he did not specify a date.

Italy has around 2,400 soldiers with a U.N. peace force in Lebanon. Berlusconi said he would review the rules of engagement to let them react better to the challenges on the ground.

He also said he would set up a commission to assess the budget situation that his government would inherit from the centre-left to make sure there were "no surprises".

(Additional reporting by Giuseppe Fonte in Rome)

(Editing by Mary Gabriel)