Italian Premier Romano Prodi went before the Lower House on
Tuesday to ask that it reconfirms its confidence in his government
following the decision by ex-justice minister Clemente Mastella to
withdraw the support of his Udeur party.
The premier's address opened a floor debate which will conclude
with a confidence vote on Wednesday, after which Prodi will face
the almost impossible task of winning a confidence test in the
Senate.
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This because without the Udeur's three senators Prodi no longer
holds a majority there.
In his 15-minute address to the Lower House, Prodi "proudly"
defended his government's record over the past 20 months and said
"this government has brought benefits to the nation and I am
convinced that it will be able to do so in the future."
The government, Prodi observed, "was the result of a pact for
the legislature based on a common five-year program which has
already put Italy back on its feet."
Following Prodi's address, the Udeur confirmed that it will vote
against the government both in the Lower House and Senate, while
opposition leaders called for Prodi's immediate resignation.
Former premier Silvio Berlusconi, who was absent from the floor,
summed up the opposition's position by defining the confidence
votes as "a useless formality because the situation is clear."
The Forza Italia leader and probable center right candidate for
premier said he expected to reply to Prodi in the Lower House on
Wednesday, before the confidence vote.
Mastella said on Monday that he had decided to bring the
government down because of differences on a number of issues
including electoral reform, the proposed referendum on the current
electoral law and relations with the new Democratic Party, which
was created through the fusion of the Democratic Left and centrist
Daisy parties.
(Xinhua News Agency January 23, 2008)
