ITALY: Just a week after his government was defeated in Italy's upper house, Italian prime minister Romano Prodi last night won a crucial confidence vote that enables him to take office again at the head of his nine party centre-left coalition.
Last night's decisive vote again took place in the Senate, where the centre-left majority has looked shaky ever since Mr Prodi took office in May last year.
Helping the centre-left cause last night was the fact that the two centre-left dissidents, Fernando Rossi of the Italian Communists, and Franco Turigliatto, ex-Rifondazione Comunista, who voted against the government last week both voted with this time.
Senator Marco Follini, a former leader of the ex-Christian Democrat UDC party, the Italo-Argentine senator Luigi Pallaro, the former state presidents and now life senators Oscar Luigi Scalfaro and Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, and another life senator, the former Nobel prizewinner Rita Levi Montalcino were also among those who came to the government's rescue last night in a vote which Mr Prodi won by 162 votes to 157.
Prior to the vote the prime minister had addressed the house, again highlighting the need for an electoral reform that would guarantee government stability and continuity in both houses of parliament, thus in effect avoiding the difficult situation in which he now finds himself.
The prime minister's speech also carried guarantees of future economic stability that appeared to be directed at the financial markets. "We have chosen to work to put this economy to rights. I say to international investors that they can put their trust in Italy. We respect a return to EU parameters and likewise we will respect our commitment made in parliament to assure a redistribution of the increased funds deriving from an economy in growth and from the battle against tax evasion."
Mr Prodi's government will resume office against the background of a 12-point pact agreed by the centre-left coalition leaders last week, a programme which contains proposals on education, pension reform, the building of a high-speed train service and public service cuts.
Significantly, the first item on that programme is foreign policy, the issue on which the government was defeated last week, whilst, equally significantly, the final item stipulates that the prime minister will have the final say in any future policy disagreements.
Despite last night's success, the future solidity of the centre-left coalition in the Senate seems far from certain.
Italy's troop deployments in Afghanistan, pensions reforms, a bill intended to provide legal recognition for unmarried and gay couples and the government's support for a high speed train service are all issues that seem destined to test the fragile unity of the coalition.
Today the government is expected to win another confidence vote, this time in the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, where its majority is not as fragile as in the Senate.