Italian Parliament approves unpopular austerity cuts
Italy’s Parliament yesterday approved unpopular budget cuts as part of conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s efforts to rein in a ballooning public deficit and reassure markets. The measures totalling €25 billion, approved by the Senate two...
Italy’s Parliament yesterday approved unpopular budget cuts as part of conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s efforts to rein in a ballooning public deficit and reassure markets.
The measures totalling €25 billion, approved by the Senate two weeks ago, passed by 329 to 275, and a final budget vote must be held by midday today.
The ballot was in the form of a vote of confidence in Mr Berlusconi’s centre-right government, a much-criticised parliamentary manoeuvre used with increasing frequency as a way of minimising dissent within majority ranks. The billionaire leader, although flagging in opinion surveys, has comfortable majorities in both houses of Parliament.
What Mr Berlusconi has called “essential sacrifices to save Italy’s future” have sparked protests and strikes among a cross-section of Italian society including judges, diplomats, civil servants, public sector doctors and museum curators.
The two-year austerity package was adopted in late May when markets were jittery over eurozone economies as Greece’s public finance crisis sparked fears of a domino effect.