Prodi sets Italy confidence vote, communists irked

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has called for a confidence vote on pension and labour market reforms attached to the 2008 budget in an attempt to end coalition bickering over the proposals. If Prodi loses the vote, to be held tomorrow or Thursday in the Chamber of Deputies, he would be forced to resign, but he has an ample lower house majority so the vote is not expected to pose an immediate threat to his coalition government's survival. One communist party in Prodi's alliance, unhappy at his unwillingness to accept its demands, said the prime minister was pandering to big business and demanded the start of a "new phase" from January, marked by more left-wing policies. "There has been an extremely strong rupture within the coalition," said Communist Refoundation leader Franco Giordano, but he added that his party, the second largest in Prodi's coalition, would toe the line in the confidence vote.