Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


    November 08, 2011

Berlusconi Wins Budget Vote, Loses Political Majority

   VOA News
   Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, left, holds League North
   Party leader Umberto Bossi's hand during a finance vote at the
   parliament in Rome, November 8, 2011. Photo: Reuters
   Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, left, holds League North
   Party leader Umberto Bossi's hand during a finance vote at the
   parliament in Rome, November 8, 2011.

   Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday won a crucial
   budget vote in parliament, but lost the support of a majority of
   lawmakers for his weakened government.
   While 308 lawmakers voted in favor of the budget bill, another 321
   lawmakers abstained. No-one voted against.
   That meant that Berlusconi failed to gather the 316 votes necessary to
   have a majority of the parliament back his economic reforms.
   The vote had been seen as a test of confidence in his political
   leadership.
   After more than half the parliament refused to vote, the opposition
   immediately called for the Mr. Berlusconi to resign.
   Senate Finance Committee leader Mario Baldassarri told BBC TV that
   nobody could run the country "without a wider consensus or support."
   The debt crisis sweeping the Eurozone has put pressure on Berlusconi to
   move quickly to enact unpopular reforms to protect the Italian economy.
   Italy is the third largest economy in the Eurozone and the 7th largest
   in the world. But it faces potential economic crisis caused by a
   ballooning public debt.
   James Walston, professor of politics at the American University of
   Rome, said prior to the result that even if Berlusconi survived the
   vote, he did not expect the Italian leader would keep his post much
   longer.
   "There are various possible moments when he could fail, I think by now
   it is inevitable that his government will come to an end," said
   Walston. "It might not come to an end today, or even tomorrow, but it
   will be very soon, because there is such immense pressure from the
   markets."
   Italy has been hampered by a weak government and debts that are
   considered too large for its European partners to bail out.
   But Emiliano Alessandri of the German Marshall Fund in the United
   States, says even if Berlusconi is forced from office, Italy's problems
   would remain.
   He says, "the idea that Italy's structural problems will be solved by
   his demise alone is wishful."

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

   "

.