ROME - The Italian Prime Minister, Mr Romano Prodi, started a confidence debate yesterday, on the morning after his 11-month-old centre-left government had come perilously close to collapse, writes Paddy Agnew.
The Prodi government motion endorsing the Italian-led international peace mission to Albania got through parliament on Wednesday, thanks only to the last minute support of the centre right opposition. The price of that support was a confidence motion, with the Senate voting yesterday and the Chamber of Deputies due to vote tomorrow.
The government won last night's Senate confidence vote and is expected to win again in the Chamber on Saturday.
Centre stage in the debate are the tensions between the government and its hard-left allies, Rifondazione Communista, who voted against the Albania mission. Although Rifondazione hold no cabinet posts, the Prodi government relies on the communist hardliners for its majority in the lower house.
In his speech to the Senate, Mr Prodi appeared to be clearly addressing his recalcitrant allies when calling for an unequivocal confidence vote, adding that if his government fell, that collapse would have grave consequences both for Italy's international credibility and for Italy's attempts to make the first round of the single currency countries.