The expectation appears to be that, by so doing, Commerce will effectively enjoy primer inter pares status in future defense cooperation and similar negotiations.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The FS-X Agreement

Unlike Mr D'Alema, whose own party is the coalition's biggest, Mr Amato has no personal base, so may try to cast himself as primus inter pares.

ECONOMIST: Giuliano Amato, Italy��s agile stopgap

It is a charge that resonates beyond romantics who recall the post-war golden age of cabinet government when Whitehall was a collection of ministerial baronies, each run by a big beast and overseen by a prime minister who was merely primus inter pares.

ECONOMIST: Reform of the civil service