Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi addressed the lower house of parliament on Tuesday, outlining his government's program for the rest of its term. This came after his government won a lower house vote on measures to boost growth by a margin of 24 votes.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has pledged to stay to the end of his term in 2013 after winning the confidence vote, his first
test in parliament since two crushing electoral losses in recent weeks.
Berlusconi said that the center-right government would keep its commitment to controlling public finances and that planned tax reform would not increase the budget deficit. Berlusconi also said his government was the only one capable of maintaining the confidence of international markets.
Silvio Berlusconi, Italian Prime Minister, said, "We certainly want to avoid ending up like other European countries which are virtually
bleeding in order to survive. I see it as a success that our government has saved Italian public debt from speculators and it would be foolish to put everything up for discussion and leave us vulnerable
to a crisis, right at this point when we have a need for growth."
But the prime minister's speech certainly did not convince members of the opposition.
Alberto Maritati, Senator of Opposition PD Party, said, "We are just in crisis, painfully in crisis, after everything that has happened it is a crisis."
The victory of the confidence vote is likely to provide only brief respite for Berlusconi. He is battling to keep his coalition together,with an increasingly frustrated League demanding tax cuts and an end to Italy's costly mission in Libya.
A separate vote in the lower house to verify whether the government enjoys a majority may be called on Wednesday.