Berlusconi days numbered with no-confidence motion

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Berlusconi days numbered with no-confidence motion
The Associated Press
Friday, November 12, 2010; 12:00 PM

ROME -- Italy's opposition has introduced a no-confidence motion against Premier Silvio Berlusconi in a move that sets the stage for a showdown in parliament that could spell the end of the government.

The opposition Democratic Party and the allied Italy of Values party co-sponsored the motion Friday in the lower Chamber of Deputies. No date has been set for it to be discussed.

Berlusconi's government has been in a tailspin for months, but the political crisis accelerated over the weekend when his estranged ally Gianfranco Fini formally called on him to resign.

Berlusconi refused. The no-confidence motion will now force Fini and his allies, whose support is crucial to the premier, to choose whether to support him or force the government to fall.




Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/12/AR2010111203116.html

[Kolesar]

1. Arrivederci ... eom

[pattmarty]

2. Maybe this will be the end of "Il Duce jr".

[Vidar]

3. I hope for Italy's sake it comes to pass.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Italy Senses Berlusconi Era Is Nearing End

Italy Senses Berlusconi Era Is Nearing End
By RACHEL DONADIO
Published: November 12, 2010

ROME — Italy’s center-left opposition called Friday for a confidence vote against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, ushering in a chapter that until recently seemed unthinkable: the end of the Berlusconi era.

In the past week, a steady drumbeat of dissent from within the prime minister’s own center-right coalition has crescendoed, reaching a crisis that analysts say is expected to bring down the government within weeks — and most likely result in early elections.

“The government has in effect already fallen,” said Stefano Folli, a political commentator at the financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. “It could hold up until they pass the budget, but that’s a formality; on a political plane, the crisis has already begun.”

The confidence vote has not been scheduled, but analysts said it would most likely be the vehicle that would bring down the government as soon as Parliament approved the 2011 budget.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/world/europe/13italy.html?_r=1&src=twrhp

[regnaD kciN]

5. Misleading headline...

The actual headline reads:

Berlusconi at risk with no-confidence motion

For, indeed, all this reports is that a no-confidence vote will be taken soon. It doesn't mean "his days are numbered." Parliamentary governments survive no-confidence motions all the time.

Didn't there used to be a rule that LBN stories sourced from news media had to have the actual headline as its subject, not some variant created by the poster?

:shrug:

[Judi Lynn]

6. I beg your pardon. I don't write own headlines in LBN.That WAS the headline at the time I posted.

The fact it has been changed since then can't be helped.

Do NOT make stupid assertions about other posters. I damned well know the rules. Have been here a very long time.