Italian business should be spoilt for choice when considering the two candidates for Prime Minister these elections: the country's richest man and a former president of the European Commission.

But far from it - neither contestant in elections this weekend has so far put forward the policies business wants to kickstart a stagnant economy and rein in a bulging state deficit. After five years in power, entrepreneur Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition is promising labour and corporate tax cuts as well as spending curbs to rein in the deficit - but provides little detail of how this will happen.

Spending has actually increased by two percentage points of gross domestic product (GDP) under Mr Berlusconi's government.

The opposition centre-left under former Commission head Romano Prodi is offering a similar miracle cure, but is equally short on detail on spending cuts.

Luca di Montezemolo, head of the Confindustria employers' association, has called the campaign "a carnival of populism".

Business leaders are sceptical either side can actually deliver on its promises.

"Business feels let down," Bruno Magnani, chief executive officer of software firm Finetwork, said last month.

"At the beginning (of Berlusconi's mandate) he promised to develop Italy. But we've had five years of stagnation without any prospects for the future."

Paolo Barilla of the Barilla Group food firm said business had to rely on its own capabilities.

"It's not that changing the government will change the situation. It's not a question of right or left, it's up to business itself," he said at an event in Parma last week.

Confindustria has called for a raft of measures including cuts in energy costs, tax credits for research spending and other fiscal benefits as well as more market liberalisation.

While tax cuts are offered by both sides, neither is clear about how these will be funded.

Mr Berlusconi, whose family controls Italian television network Mediaset, holding company Fininvest and soccer team AC Milan, is a self-made billionaire whose natural hinterland should be Italy's millions of small-scale entrepreneurs.

But five years have seen little improvement in frustrating bureaucracy, scorchingly high loan rates and rigid labour laws, while all-powerful professional bodies still hinder competition and mean just selling your car requires the help of a lawyer.

"I would say I'm on the right. I've always been on the right. But now it's not clear either side will help small business," said Claudio Pasquale, owner of a small newsagent shop in Milan.

Mr Berlusconi, aware of the frustrations, played to the hearts of small business owners at a platform given by Confindustria last month, using the event to slam the pessimism among big firms - many of which are members of Confindustria's elite.

His high drama on the business stage came the day after a sedate appearance by Prof. Prodi who debated policies in a question and answer session.

"The centre-left is able to talk with the big employers, the big banks... but it has not developed a real ability to deal with the small businessman," said Giuseppe Berta, professor of contemporary history at Milan's Bocconi University.

"Berlusconi understood that after five years of government, many small businesses are not satisfied but they are against the public image of a centre-left coalition. He appeals not to reasoning of the people but to their inner mood," Prof. Berta said.

Making a leap to the left - whose coalition includes the Greens party and the Refounded Communists - could still prove too radical a move for many entrepreneurs.

At the same time, Mr Berlusconi faces criticism for pushing through reforms which primarily benefited his interests, even if they also helped other businesses. Among a raft of judicial reforms were moves to decriminalise false book-keeping.

Whichever side wins, doubts will remain over whether the new government will have a sufficiently cohesive majority to implement major changes.

"Italy needs a massive dose of pro-growth reforms, deregulation and liberalisation of products and labour markets, privatisation," said Bank of America economist Lorenzo Codogno in a research note.

"An outright victory for one of the two political camps... would likely give a year-long window of opportunity for some market-friendly reforms. If this opportunity is lost... Italy would start becoming a serious problem for Europe."