Thursday, December 15, 2011

Italy government calls confidence vote on austerity

Italy's government has called a confidence vote in parliament tomorrow to speed up approval of a 33-billion euro ($43 billion)austerity package intended to restore market confidence in the euro zone's third largest economy.

Minister for Parliamentary Relations Piero Giarda announced the confidence vote, expected early on Friday afternoon. It will likely be followed by a similar vote in the upper house next week.

The technocrat government of Prime Minister Mario Monti is backed by an overwhelming majority in both houses and the votes should pass easily, confirming a decree law that went into effect on Dec. 4 but needed parliamentary approval within 60 days.

Monti's government was appointed last month to face a collapse in market confidence that had put Italy at the heart of the euro zone debt crisis. He has raced to push through the law that cuts spending and increases taxes to shore up public finances and cut a debt running at 120 percent of gross domestic product.

The government resorted to confidence votes to curb debate on dozens of amendments, many of them tabled by the opposition Northern League.

This strategy also enables the broad swathe of parties supporting Monti from both left and right to gloss over their opposition to parts of the law in the interest of keeping the emergency government in power.

Monti's predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi, had called for a confidence vote, saying his PDL party - the biggest in parliament - would support the government out of a sense of responsibility, not because it agrees with all the sacrifices being asked of Italians.