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The approval of the package in a 165-to-141 vote makes it more likely that key planks of the plan will survive, paving the way for the measures to face a final vote in the coming days in the lower house of Parliament, where Mr Berlusconi's majority is thin.
The government says the measures will generate more than €50 billion in cost savings through a mix of new taxes, pension changes and cuts to public spending. The plan aims to balance the budget in 2013 and help the government bring down Italy's enormous debt, which amounts to 120 per cent of its GDP, the second-highest ratio in the eurozone after heavily-indebted Greece.
Despite the Senate's backing, political opposition to the package remains high. To ensure the measures passed the Senate, Mr Berlusconi imposed a confidence vote—a parliamentary manoeuvre that tied the survival of his government to the measures' passage.