crying wolf

[adriatica]

having predicted the demise of prodi several times due to what seemed situations that he could not win through it now seems that him and his government have finalley arrived at the point where it will fall

tomorrow is the critical vote...and unless he pays someone a great deal of favours i should think he will be visiting the president of italy to resign...but i wouldnt hold my breath

will it be welcomed...well with a massive three quaters of the population hating both him and his policies ...most probably...will it do any good..unless they decide to bring in new voting rules and how parties are included ...not a lot...the problems for both left and right here but more so the left is the extremes they have to go into coalition with to enable them to form a majority...

meantime the whole country feels like it is being taxed to the hilt and a return to berlusconi is seen as the only way out...

[Biagio]

Haven't heard from you in a while Adriatica. Welcome back with your wise and balanced views.

[giovanni]

Nice to hear from you john.

Yes prodi has survived for 20 months, when most were giving him just 6. Surprisingly, Italy has performed well in that time, [economically] better than its partners in the EU!.

So you have to ask yourself, what do the voters want? Well it seems they want everything now! Problem is government after government has borrowed heavily to comply
With this sort of stupid, nievity, sooner or later you have to tightnen you belt and pay back,or rather rebalance you economy properly.

But alas that is not a popular idea, so maybe prodi's time is up.... And if berlo gets back in?

Well then the people will deserve what they get,and i for one will not have time for the moaners who will appear down the line complaining about Italys economical mess........
Again,again,and again.

[tuscanhills]

Having been brought up on a WASP diet on politics, I *should* find this exciting, but looking attlie deept, I see more Widow Twanky, than John Stuart Mill.......shame

[Nielo]

From the BBC news

Embattled Italy PM backed by MPs

Romano Prodi has been urged to resign before a Senate vote
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has won a first vote of confidence in the lower chamber of parliament.
As expected, the Chamber of Deputies voted by a majority of 51 to keep the centre-left coalition.

But all eyes are on the Senate, where the loss of a small allied party has cost Mr Prodi his majority. A vote there has been set for Thursday.

Mr Prodi has been urged to resign before then - including by the country's president.

The crisis was sparked by the withdrawal on Monday of the centrist Udeur party - and its three seats - from Mr Prodi's ruling coalition, costing the prime minister his Senate majority of one.

'Reprieve'

Udeur party leader and former justice minister, Clemente Mastella, pulled out after being forced to quit last week following his implication in a corruption inquiry.

Three other senators, including the former Prime Minister, Lamberto Dini, urged Mr Prodi to quit on Wednesday to avoid holding the Senate vote.


Polls suggest a snap election could see a Silvio Berlusconi comeback

The BBC's Christian Fraser in Rome says the lower house vote was a reprieve for Mr Prodi.

Our correspondent says there are always shifting loyalties in Italian politics and plenty of phone calls are no doubt being made to try to muster support - but it looks increasingly unlikely the prime minister can win in the Senate.

Silvio Berlusconi, the conservative former prime minister who was beaten by Mr Prodi in 2006 elections, wants to see the premier defeated in the Senate.

This would trigger calls for snap elections, which polls suggest Mr Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia party could win comfortably, our correspondent says.

He says the other more likely option, favoured by President Giorgio Napolitano, is a caretaker government capable of bringing all these different sides together to force through much needed electoral reforms, before a future election is held.

[Ivan]

I have just learned that Mr Prodi has lost his confidence vote in the Senate as many predicted and I believe has resigned. What do others, far better informed about Italian politics than myself, think will be the likely outcome?

Perhaps, more interestingly, what would they like to see happen?

[Charles Phillips]

To be utterly precise, Prodi having lost a vote of confidence is on his way to speak with President Napolitano to (perhaps) offer his resignation.

What (in my opinion) would be the worst possible scenario is that Napolitano will say - well - you got another chance, sonny (and that is on the cards). The second worst scenario is that Napolitano calls for elections. The third worst (the one I prefer) is that Napolitano puts in a 'technical government' led by someone fairly bright and not too politically oriented, gives him six months to bash the cats in a bag which constitute the Italian politicians into submitting to electoral reform. Just about any electoral reform! Banning politicians over 70 years old might be a good start.....

[adriatica]

i believe that elections will be called because there is virtually no consensus within the left over who will do what or can do what... the smaller parties are running scared of these electoral reforms because its a question of "loads of money" for each of these political party leaders at risk and they care little about what is good for the Italians but a lot about there own pockets...nothing new in that

veltroni and the new pd want a technical government because he is in the midst of a power struggle with prodi... they are on the same side...but this crisis has come too quickly and he needs time to get more of the centre left on board... hes about the only one apart from cassini and the udc who want this sort of stop gap solution...

i think the favoured result here is new elections... and berlusconi back with an even larger majority although by no means sure

... Gio ... god knows where you get your news from but it is certainly not what is talked about here... more poor people than ever... salaries not enabling people to arrive to the end of the month...schools and hospitals suffering major cut backs...fuel and all services rising in price... even the case where you might look at it from an economists point of view... they always like to see governments reign in spending and balance books is today causing concerns as the EU again warns Italy over spiraling costs and high inflation...low production...OK Fiat has made a profit...

every ones dying for a spending government to return and add some money into the economy... basically i think it might all be worse if the Euro had not strengthened against the dollar as Italy is so reliant on imported fossil fuels that the rises in all things such as electric and gas, road fuels ...and production costs would have hit even higher levels...

we have had the lorry driver strikes over fuel and now we have daily protests in and around naples over rubbish and where to dump it... Italy is a happier country today...for a while as nothing much will change ...but 75 per cent of the population are in a better mood for a while and the sun is shining

[Angie and Robert]

Thank you for your posts John, good to see you back again.
A

[adriatica]

should explain...seeing as my absence has been noted and with what has gone on elsewhere in this place... that it was all due to too much work and house move just after the new year... just that... today it seems there is a spare bit of time... so am glad to be back too and thanks for the messages...