Berlusconi Wins Budget Vote, Loses Political Majority

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."
 
 
fuente: La Voz de América, http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Berlusconi-Wins-Budget-Vote-Loses-Political-Majority-133439358.html