* Italian cabinet summons Marchionne over plans for Fiat
* Industry minister says HQ must stay in Turin
By Francesca Piscioneri and Lisa Jucca
ROME/MILAN, Feb 7 (Reuters) - The Italian government will tackle Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne over suggestions that he wants to move the carmaker's headquarters to the United States after merging with Chrysler, a minister said on Monday.
Marchionne aims to merge Italy's main industrial group and Chrysler in two or three years after a deep restructuring. He suggested at an industry conference on Friday that the new company could be based in the United States.
This sparked outrage in Italy, where Marchionne is pushing through a contested labour deal as part of a project to invest 20 billion euros ($27.18 billion) to boost productivity at its loss-making Italian car plants.
Welfare Minister Maurizio Sacconi said on Monday the Italian-Canadian manager would have the chance to explain his comments to ministers very shortly.
"I am confident we can hold this useful meeting in the coming days so as to verify the state of investments in Italy and the prospects of an integration between Fiat and Chrysler," Sacconi said on Italian television.
Fiat took a stake in Chrysler under a 2009 U.S. goverment rescue plan. It controls 25 percent and is speeding up steps to take majority ownership and then merge the two groups, sparking concern among Italian politicians and unions.
"The head of the carmaker must remain in Turin," Fiat's hometown, Industry Minister Paolo Romani told daily Corriere della Sera daily in an interview.
Romani said Turin must host not only the headquarters but also be the centre for planning and strategic decisions.
Fiat, Europe's sixth-biggest automaker by sales, must remain "an Italian multinational", the minister added.
With the exception of Fiat and some financial groups, Italy's largest companies are former monopolies or are partly state-owned. They include oil group Eni, utility Enel, Telecom Italia and defence manufacturer Finmeccanica.
Officially Fiat has taken no decision on where to base itself after a full integration with Chrysler.
The carmaker rushed to explain to politicians at the weekend that it saw four management centres after the merger, with Turin retaining a central role. The four centres would be in Turin, Detroit, Brazil and possibly Asia.
Shares in Fiat were up 1.06 percent at 7.14 euros at 0859 GMT, in line with the STOXX Europe 600 auto index. ($1=.7359 euros) (Writing by Lisa Jucca; Editing by Greg Mahlich)