THE Italian parliament last night voted 503-85 in favour of sending an international peacekeeping mission to Albania, thus confirming Italian leadership of the mission while at the same time preventing the collapse of the 11 month old centre left government of the Prime Minister, Mr Romano Prodi.
Mr Prodi has this week faced his worst crisis since taking office last May, a crisis provoked initially by the decision of the hard left Rifondazione Communista to vote against the Albania motion. Although Rifondazione holds no cabinet posts, Mr Prodi's government nonetheless depends on its 34 lower house votes to guarantee its parliamentary majority.
Following Rifondazione's contrary vote on Albania on Tuesday in the Senate where the government guarantees its own majority - Mr Prodi acknowledged the seriousness of the crisis yesterday morning when telling parliament that if the party again voted against the government, he would remit his government mandate into the hands of President Scalfaro.
This promise to consult President Scalfaro, and the inherent admission of obvious divisions within his own government, appear to have been the price exacted by the centre right opposition for its support of the motion.
Following ill timed remarks by the Junior Foreign Minister, Mr Piero Fassino, on Tuesday, to the effect that the besieged Albanian President, Mr Sali Berisha, should resign, the centre right had threatened to bring down the government by voting against it on the Albania question.
Concluding the Albania debate in parliament last night, Mr Prodi argued that Italy was willing to take on the responsibilities it had assumed via the UN Security Council authorisation on March 28th of a 6,000 strong multinational mission.
The Prime Minister was at pains to repeat previous statements to the effect that the mission was going to Albania for humanitarian reasons and not to interfere in internal Albanian affairs".
Despite the tensions and uncertainties which had preceded the vote, Mr Prodi underlined the importance of the overwhelming majority gained by the motion - only Rifondazione Communista and the Northern League voted against - and argued that Italian public opinion was strongly in favour of the mission.
"I am very glad to say that the country is united behind this mission and that the vast majority of Italians want us to assume this responsibility, the sort of responsibility we have never taken on during the entire post war period," he said.
Even as the Italian navy ship San Giusto made last minute preparations in Brindisi to lead the force, which will also include French, Greek, Spanish, Turkish, Austrian, Romanian and Bulgarian troops, Mr Prodi was preparing to face the political fall out of this week's crisis.
President Scalfaro seems likely to send him back to parliament for a confidence vote, where he is expected to win the support of Rifondazione, but only after a long, clarificatory encounter between party and government.
He is unlikely to accept the offer made in parliament yesterday by the centre right opposition leader, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, of an alternative path to a majority.