Italy's new conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday reached out to the left-wing opposition and vowed to lift Italy out of its economic morass in his maiden speech to parliament.

Recognising the "Anglo-Saxon-style shadow government" announced by the opposition this month, Berlusconi said: "A true leading class cannot exist without mutual recognition."

Seeking to turn the page on tempestuous relations with his centre-left predecessor Romano Prodi, Berlusconi called for "transparent dialogue" with the opposition.

"We are ready," Berlusconi, 71, said in the half-hour speech interrupted repeatedly by applause. "Dialogue can and should begin immediately. ... No one should feel excluded."

Piero Fassino, a leading member of the centre-left Democratic Party, praised the speech, which he said was "far from the aggressiveness of the past ... with a respectful tone," adding that the opposition was hoping for a "corresponding change in substance."

In the face of Italy's grinding economic problems, Berlusconi vowed to reduce public debt, lower the tax burden on families and on the means of production, improve training, renew infrastructure and help develop the ever-struggling south of the country.

"The main problem for our country is to begin to grow again after a long, disappointing period of declining economic performance," Berlusconi said as economists predict growth of just 0.6 percent this year, the slowest in Europe.

Berlusconi also said that flag carrier Alitalia would recover from its deep financial crisis without being nationalised or sold off cheaply. The struggling airline will be rescued by an Italian consortium, he said, a vow that he made repeatedly during the election campaign.

Prodi's government extended an emergency loan of 300 million euros (480 million dollars) to Alitalia after takeover negotiations with Air France-KLM collapsed last month.

Berlusconi said "growth means relaunching the country and its talents ... increasing our ability to trade with the rest of the world" and boosting competitiveness by fostering "love for work well done."

"This country needs to rise up again," he said. "Italy has no time to lose."

Embarking on his third stint as prime minister, Berlusconi also vowed to step up law and order, saying: "Security in daily life should be fully restored with norms that reaffirm the rule of law across the country."

Berlusconi's forces took a hard line on crime and illegal immigration during the campaign ahead of the April vote, highlighting reports alleging that various offences, especially rape, involved Romanian immigrants.

New Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, a member of the anti-immigration, Euro-sceptic Northern League -- a junior coalition partner -- is finalising measures to crack down on clandestine immigration.

Maroni said Tuesday he planned to meet Romanian counterpart Cristian David on Thursday or Friday after the latter was dispatched to Rome on an urgent mission to try and defuse the growing immigration furore.

Reacting to the speech, political analyst Stefano Folli said Berlusconi had "set the mission for his government, and that is economic growth."

Folli, a commentator for the financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore, told AFP: "There was also a recognition of the opposition.... He wants to signal a new climate. It's in his interest so that he can carry out institutional reforms."

Berlusconi, who won a convincing election victory in April, is expected to breeze through votes of confidence in the two chambers of parliament on Wednesday and Thursday.

Berlusconi's slimmed-down cabinet includes several familiar faces while shifting considerably to the right.

The new government includes Franco Frattini, who left his post as European Union justice commissioner to become foreign minister, and Berlusconi's old ally Giulio Tremonti has returned to the economics ministry.

Umberto Bossi, head of the Northern League, will be a minister without portfolio charged with reforms, a post he has held before under Berlusconi.

The cabinet holds its first formal meeting next week -- in Naples, to underscore a vow to resolve the region's chronic waste disposal problems.