ITALY: PRIME MINISTER LAMBERTO DINI WINS VOTE OF CONFIDENCE

(25 Jan 1995) Italian/Eng/Nat

The Italian Prime Minister Lamberto Dini's nonpartisan government won a vote of confidence today (Wednesday) in the lower house of parliament.

Dini's government won the vote despite his predecessor Silvio Berlusconi and hundreds of his conservative allies who abstained.

However the new government, Italy's 54th since World War Two, still faces a confidence vote in the upper chamber.

A bitterly divided Italian parliament today gave its measured support to Italy's new government of technocrats led by former Treasury Minister Lamberto Dini.

For days Dini has tried to win over members of the coalition led
by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi-urging them to back his
apolitical government.

Speaking to the Chamber, Dini promised to tackle a few key problems quickly. He said his first priority will be to put Italy's financial house in order, including tackling the budget deficit and slashing Italy's bloated pension system.

He also said he'll institute antitrust legislation, which limit Berlusconi's substantial media holdings.

While Dini has indicated that he sees himself in a temporary position, he has refused Berlusconi's demand to declare June elections.

Today Berlusconi let his frustration with Dini be known by leading his coalition in an abstention from the balloting.

The abstention of Berlusconi's group allowed Dini to win only a simple majority with 302 in favour, 39 against and 270 abstentions.

But while Dini faces an uphill struggle to get his proposed programmes through a bickering parliament, some believe that a serious technocrat is the right man for the job.

SOUNDBITE: Dini has started out well, he has said he's going to negotiate with everyone, which is what Berlusconi didn't do and Berlusconi wanted to take everyone head on, but didn't have the power to do it. So he will produce something. I would be very, very surprised, no, he can't do it by June.

SUPER CAPTION: James Walston, Professor, American University of Rome

It was just last week that Italy's President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro swore in the new government, a government that no one believes will last for long.

Berlusconi and his allies in the neo-fascist National Alliance fiercely denounced President Scalfaro for his decision to name a temporary government rather than call immediate elections.

And today the National Alliance, led by Gianfranco Fini, joined Berlusconi in abstaining from the vote.

Fini and Berlusconi are both confident that they would win a majority if national elections were held soon.

Meanwhile, Fini has to clear up some confusion within his own party.

This week he is taking part in a crucial national congress in which the National Alliance will try to shed its ties with the Movimento Sociale Italiano. The fascist wing of the party has roots back to wartime dictator Benito Mussolini.

Today one member of parliament defended the M-S-I and its fascist past.

SOUNDBITE: Italian
The history of the MSI cannot be criminalised and thrown in the waste basket, because evolution is made with memory and men without memory can construct neither family nor future, they are men making a mistake.

SUPER CAPTION: Onorevole Teodoro Buontempo, MSI Party

While Italy's parliamentarians debated their nation's future, outside the parliament building a crowd of eager onlookers waited for the results of the confidence debate. Nearly everyone had a strong opinion.

SOUNDBITE: Italian
1. I prefer Berlusconi
2. I like him (Dini) well enough, he will solve a lot of problems

SUPER CAPTION: Voxpop



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