ROME - SILVIO Berlusconi, Italy's flamboyant prime minister, is working on a new CD of love songs that he hopes to complete by December, a press report said on Monday.

Berlusconi, who turns 72 next week, is teaming up with Neopolitan singer Mariano Apicella, to produce the album, a second set of compositions by the prime minister, the daily La Repubblica reported.

'We are working a lot. I want this CD to come out in December, but it won't be easy given all the (prime minister's) responsibilities' the 45-year-old Apicella was quoted as saying.

The first album of Berlusconi's compositions, all sung by Apicella, reached Italy's Top 50 after it came out in 2003 during the media tycoon's second stint as prime minister.

Berlusconi, a cruise ship singer in his youth, came to power for a third time this year after mid-April elections. -- AFP