Italian prosecutors filed a request to bring Berlusconi to trial immediately on charges of paying for sex with an underaged girl and improperly pressuring police to release her from custody.
Their application, which means the prosecutors believe they have enough evidence in the case to skip a preliminary hearing, will add to the pressure on the 74-year-old premier, whose centre-right government is hanging on to power.
Speaking at a news conference following a cabinet meeting Berlusconi told reporters accusations against him were false but that he was not worried for himself.
He said: "I have attained every goal and I am a rich man who can spend the rest of his life building children's hospitals, which is what I have always wanted to do."