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20 November 2013

Reuters: Relief for Italy's Letta as minister survives no-confidence vote


Italy's justice minister survived a no-confidence vote in the lower house of parliament, shoring up the fragile coalition government ahead of votes coming up on next year's budget and whether Silvio Berlusconi should be expelled from parliament.

Prime Minister Enrico Letta's Democratic Party (PD) and the other groups supporting the government rejected a no-confidence motion by the opposition 5-Star Movement against Justice Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri by 405 to 154.

The outcome of the vote was expected after a PD meeting late on Tuesday where Letta told lawmakers, many of whom had called for Cancellieri to go, that his government's survival was on the line after he had publicly backed the minister.

Letta will face further tests next week with a key vote in the Senate on the budget and the vote to expel former Prime Minister Berlusconi from parliament following an August conviction for tax fraud.

The 2014 budget law aims to reduce the fiscal deficit while promising timid cuts to labour costs and other taxes. Both issues had threatened the government's survival until Berlusconi's centre-right party split on Friday, with one faction saying it would back Letta.

Full article



© Reuters


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