Rome - The centre-right coalition of Silvio Berlusconi, prime minister, is under attack from some of Italy's most distinguished public servants for what they see as two blatantly political appointments to oversee the country's antitrust authority.

Giuliano Amato, a former prime minister who was president of the authority from 1994 to 1997, yesterday became the latest eminent public figure to criticise the appointments of two new commissioners.

The antitrust authority, set up in 1990 to protect Italy's free market economy against anti-competitive practices, is generally regarded as one of the best and least politicised regulatory agencies in a country where politics, business and state administration often blend together.

The latest appointments are causing concern because the antitrust authority, in addition to ensuring free market competition, last year was made responsible for applying a law on conflict of interests that has particular relevance to Mr Berlusconi. He is not only premier but a billionaire businessman and the dominant force in Italy's media sector.

Critics of the government say the appointments run the risk of taming the antitrust authority and making it less willing to challenge Mr Berlusconi's Fininvest business empire if necessary.

Giuseppe Tesauro, the respected president of the antitrust authority since 1998, is due to leave his job in March, and critics fear another political appointment.

The two new members to the five-person antitrust commission were named on December 29 by Pier Ferdinando Casini and Marcello Pera, two centre-right politicians who are the respective heads of the lower and upper house of parliament.

They selected Giorgio Guazzaloca, a former butcher who served five years as the centre-right mayor of Bologna until last June, and Antonio Pilati, a member of Italy's telecommunications regulatory agency. Mr Pilati supported a media law last year that Mr Berlusconi's centre-left opponents condemned as favouring the premier's business interests.

"In this matter, Pera and Casini have been really disappointing," Mr Amato told La Repubblica, a left-leaning newspaper, yesterday.

Among others who have criticised the appointments are Mario Monti, a former European commissioner for the internal market, and Sabino Cassese, a university professor who in the 1990s launched the most effective reforms of Italy's hidebound bureaucracy since the second world war.

Mr Cassese said Mr Guazzaloca was poorly qualified for the antitrust job and Mr Pilati was not independent enough.

Mr Monti said the appointments were misguided because Italy needed an antitrust authority that promoted vigorous competition - an area where many businessmen and economists say Italy trails its European Union partners.

Mr Berlusconi's supporters responded to the attacks by saying that the centre-left, when in government, had used its powers of patronage to appoint supporters to important public service jobs.