ROME, April 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has decided to put together a new government, Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini announced Monday at the end of a coalition crisis summit.

    Fini, who leads the rightist National Alliance (AN)), issued a statement saying that Berlusconi was about to hand in his resignation to President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, a temporary, formalmeasure in line with constitutional requirements.

    He said the prime minister would then form a new government aimed at "relaunching the center right".

    "Our only concern over the past few days has been to prevent the center right collapsing in a sea of polemics, misunderstandings and party logics," Fini said.

    Berlusconi has to meet Italian President Ciampi later Monday afternoon.

    His resignation would set in motion a formal government crisis in which the prime minister would seek a mandate from the president to form a new executive.

    The new government would then be put to a parliamentary vote ofconfidence.

    The crisis, the most serious since Berlusconi came to power four years ago, was triggered by a stinging defeat in local elections this month.

    And last week, a centrist party, Catholic party (UDC) in Berlusconi's four-way coalition, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Marco Follini pulled its ministers out of the Cabinet and demandedthat Berlusconi form a fresh government with a new platform.

    Follini on Monday renewed his commitment to a new Berlusconi government, and Berlusconi made the "ensuing decision to hand in his resignation to the head of state," Fini said.

    Berlusconi's Forza Italia party warned the UDC on Sunday that it would call snap elections if the party refused to return to the government fold.

    UDC Chairman Rocco Buttiglione indicated earlier Monday afternoon that Berlusconi and the UDC were close to mending relations.

    House Speaker Pier Ferdinando Casini meanwhile noted that the UDC had not yet formally communicated any resignations to the House.

    Berlusconi, a billionaire media magnate who swept to power in May 2001 on a pledge of lower taxes, has led Italy's longest-serving postwar government.

    He has made it abundantly clear he wants to hang on for the rest of his five-year term. Enditem