Italian post-fascists merge with Berlusconi's party

By Silvia Aloisi

ROME (Reuters) - The heir to Italy's fascist movement, the National Alliance, dissolved on Sunday to merge with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservatives to unite the centre-right, despite lingering rivalries between their leaders.

The National Alliance (AN), the second biggest force in the governing coalition, held its last congress in Rome at the weekend and approved folding the party into Berlusconi's People of Freedom bloc.

Commentators say AN leader Gianfranco Fini, 57, the speaker of the lower house of parliament, is waiting in the wings to take over from Berlusconi, 72, should he decide to retire from politics.

Addressing 1,800 AN delegates, Fini said Berlusconi was the leader of the centre-right but made clear his allies wanted to have their say in the new party, which will hold its first congress next weekend.

"Berlusconi knows that his strong and recognised leadership can in no way become a personality cult," Fini said.

"We must guarantee that the People of Freedom is not the party of one person, but of one country."

AN has been an ally of Berlusconi's Forza Italia party since the mid-1990s and ran under a single banner with him in last year's election, helping the media tycoon win a landslide victory and a third term in office.

While Fini had initially seemed reluctant to dissolve AN, the merger caps his 15-year drive to shed the post-fascist tag and transform his party into a mainstream conservative force.