Italy's government wins confidence vote

Italy's technocrat government won a confidence vote on Thursday on measures to cut bureaucracy, confirming Prime Minister Mario Monti still commands a comfortable majority after tensions rose this week among the parties that back him. The government won the vote by 479 to 75 in the Chamber of Deputies on the so-called "simplification decree" - a package of measures designed to make it easier to change residence, obtain documents and set up new companies, among other things.
The measures, which were presented in January, now move to the Senate where they must be approved by the end of March. Monti's wide margin in his 10th confidence vote since taking office four months ago should give him some reassurance after he expressed concern on Thursday about tensions in his broad parliamentary majority. After speaking about the fall in yield spreads between Italian and German bonds, he said: "I hope the spread is not widening among the parties that support the government, because this could hinder us in fixing public accounts".
On Wednesday, the national secretary of Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party pulled out of a meeting with Monti and the other ruling parties over the prime minister's plans to discuss reforming the justice system and state broadcaster RAI. Centre-left parties said it showed Berlusconi, who owns private broadcaster Mediaset which competes against RAI, and who is on trial for abuse of office and other offences, was unwilling to back Monti when his private interests were at stake.
The decision to pull out of the meeting immediately raised the temperature among parties on both sides of the political divide, which have so far largely buried their differences to support Monti's efforts to shield Italy from the euro zone debt crisis. An editorial in La Stampa daily said it highlighted a risk that Monti, who passed sweeping deficit cuts and pension reform soon after taking office, may soon face "paralysis" as the parties become less inclined to back him on a range of issues. Monti has made clear his top priority remains the economy and on Thursday a government source told Reuters the cabinet was preparing additional deregulation measures following an initial package presented in January which is still before parliament.
The source said the issue had been discussed with party chiefs on Thursday, but did not disclose the measures likely to feature. The first deregulation package, affecting a raft of areas such as banks, taxis, pharmacies and lawyers, has been somewhat watered down during its passage through parliament. The separate simplification package, on which the government won Thursday's confidence vote, includes a step towards liberalising the telecommunications market which has sparked protests from Telecom Italia.