Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi narrowly won a vote of confidence in the upper house of Parliament yesterday over a security package that would allow the expulsion of EU citizens deemed to be a danger to society.

Mr Prodi called a vote of confidence to reduce squabbling within his nine-party centre-left coalition. If he had lost he would have been forced to resign.

The government won the Senate vote by 160 to 158.

The package will now pass to the Chamber of Deputies, where it must also be approved in order to become law.

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