About 20 Italian centre-right lawmakers may break with leader Silvio Berlusconi if he tries to bring down Prime Minister Enrico Letta’s coalition in a dispute over Berlusconi’s fraud conviction, a centre-right party source warned yesterday.

In a move that may give Letta, from the centre-left, a chance to save his government following the resignations of five ministers from Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PDL), some 20 PDL senators may form a breakaway group in the upper house, the source said.

“If Silvio doesn’t agree to take a step back from what the hawks are proposing, we could have a new moderate group by Wednesday,” the source said.

We could have a new moderate group by Wednesday

The comment slightly revived prices of Italian stocks and bonds, which have suffered from the prospect of new uncertainty and lack of economic reforms as former premier Berlusconi fights an impending expulsion from the Senate following his conviction.

An inconclusive election in February led to the formation of a fragile left-right coalition under Letta two months later.

Berlusconi’s decision to order the five ministers to resign on Saturday has plunged Italy into political chaos and left the eurozone’s third-largest economy without a fully operational government, prompting warnings that its sovereign debt rating is at risk.

The move also deepened splits between hardline “hawks” and moderate “doves” in Berlusconi’s party. A day after they resigned, all five ministers expressed reservations about their move, which came after a week of growing tensions. Other PDL lawmakers have also openly dissented with the resignations.

Letta, who has a commanding lower house majority, needs to secure a majority in the Senate – where the PDL is currently the second-largest party – in order to continue in government.

Letta’s government has been teetering on the edge of crisis ever since Italy’s top court convicted Berlusconi of tax fraud last month, opening the way for the 77-year-old to be stripped of his seat in the Senate.

A special Senate committee meeting on Friday is expected to vote to open proceedings that could lead to Berlusconi being thrown out of parliament by mid-October and losing his parliamentary immunity from arrest in this and other cases.

Berlusconi said at the weekend he wanted new elections to be held as soon as possible.

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