ITALY:Italy's shaky centre-left government, led by Romano Prodi, last night seemed on the brink of collapse following the withdrawal of minor coalition partner, the ex-Christian Democrat UDEUR, writes Paddy Agnewin Rome.
Although the UDEUR has only three seats in the Senate, the loss of that support could prove fatal to the Prodi government which has had only a one or two-vote majority in the Senate for most of this legislature.
The catalyst in this most recent crisis is the former justice minister and UDEUR leader Clemente Mastella who last week resigned from the cabinet following the opening of a judicial enquiry into both him and his wife, Sandra Lonardo, on charges of corruption. Although he resigned his government post last week, Mr Mastella initially guaranteed his continuing support for the government. Last night, in an abrupt about-turn, he said: "We are withdrawing from the government, this centre-left experience has come to an end. If there is a confidence vote (in the government) we will be voting against".
Mr Prodi issued no immediate statement in response to Mr Mastella but rather concentrated on convening a hurried meeting of senior centre-left coalition figures with a view to finding a way out of this particular jam. Government sources last night confirmed that Mr Mastella's decision had not taken Mr Prodi's office by surprise, given that the ex-justice minister had not been taking Mr Prodi's phone calls over the last two days.
Mr Prodi now faces some difficult choices. He can opt to try and weather the storm and hope that, with the help of the non-aligned life-senators, he might yet again scrape through in the Senate. Given that the Senate numbers at this stage look strongly against him, he could however, simply offer his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano, putting the ball in his court.
At that point, Mr Napolitano will almost certainly open exhaustive consultations aimed at seeing if another, perhaps institutional and partly non-party government can be formed. But Mr Napolitano could conclude that he has no alternative but to call an early general election.
Inevitably, senior opposition figures urged just such an outcome last night. Forza Italia, Alleanza Nazionale and the Northern League all called on Mr Prodi to resign, with Northern League senator Roberto Maroni commenting: "We call on Prodi to resign immediately and what is more, let there be no messing about with technical or institutional governments, let's go straight to an election".
Mr Prodi is expected in parliament this morning for what is sure to be a fiery debate, and one perhaps marked by a formal no-confidence vote. Mr Prodi's centre-left coalition has been in power since May 2006.