Posted on 02/28/2007 2:22:18 PM PST by knighthawk
ROME (AFP) - Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi on Wednesday survived a close vote of confidence in the Senate, ending a weeklong political crisis after his resignation.
The 67-year-old former European Commission chief, serving his second stint as prime minister, is expected to sail through another vote in the Chamber of Deputies, where he has a comfortable majority, on Friday.
The Senate vote went in Prodi's favor by 162 to 157.
Two senators whose votes were uncertain ahead of the ballot, independent Luigi Pollaro and opposition centrist Marco Follini, voted for Prodi.
Four of Italy's seven unelected senators for life also gave support.
Prodi's disparate centre-left coalition, which won a general election 10 months ago by a hair's breadth, was thrown into crisis last week when the prime minister resignated after losing a vote of support on foreign policy issues.
Two communist senators opposed to Rome's military mission in Afghanistan and to the planned expansion of a US airbase in northern Italy sparked the crisis by withholding their support.
Shaky support from communists proved Prodi's undoing during his first stint as prime minister in 1996-98.
President Giorgio Napolitano renamed Prodi and called for the confidence vote. Prodi rallied his coalition around a 12-point "non-negotiable" pact before agreeing to lead a new government.
If people want on or off this list, please let me know.
So, how long do we think this non-negotiable pact will last? Longer than a cease-fire in Gaza? A week? Two months? Half a year? The really brave would bet on a year.
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