ITALY:Outgoing Italian prime minister Romano Prodi, whose government fell after losing a foreign policy vote in the Senate on Wednesday, may today be asked by state president Giorgio Napolitano to form a new, almost identical executive as a solution to Italy's current constitutional crisis.
As the president last night wound up two days of consultations with key politicians from the opposition and government ranks, he was left with three clear messages. First, all the factions in the nine-party centre-left coalition reaffirmed their confidence in Mr Prodi and called on the president to reappoint him.
Second, several opposition parties, including the centre-right Forza Italia party of media tycoon and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, expressed total opposition to a new Prodi government, instead calling for a broad-based national government which would oversee key measures such as electoral reform prior to new elections.
Third, at least one opposition party, the Northern League, called on the president to dissolve parliament and call an immediate general election.
In an attempt to strengthen Mr Prodi's position, all nine members of the centre-left coalition late on Thursday night agreed to a 12-point government programme which, significantly, makes foreign policy the first item on the agenda and, equally significantly, gives the prime minister the final say in any future policy disagreements.
This 12-point programme bears great similarity to the government programme agreed to by all the coalition members just prior to Mr Prodi's narrow election victory last April.
It was an exasperated Mr Prodi who insisted on the new agreement as an essential precondition to accepting a renewed leadership of the centre-left. In particular, Mr Prodi intended to make a serious point with his allies, especially radical left parties such as Rifondazione Comunista and the Italian Communists.
The programme calls on the new government to respect existing international agreements and to support UN, EU and Nato policies, especially with regard to Afghanistan.
The Prodi government fell on Wednesday essentially because two radical left senators, one from Rifondazione Comunista and the other from the Italian Communists, voted against the government on two fundamental issues - the deployment of 2,000 Italian soldiers in Afghanistan and the enlargement of a US military base in Vicenza, northern Italy.
It remains unclear just how the centre-left will achieve an outright majority in the Senate. On Wednesday, the government pulled 158 votes, four short of the absolute majority of 162.
Much attention continues to focus on both the ex-Christian Democrat UDC party, currently with the centre-right opposition, and on former UDC leader Marco Follini, a long-time critic of Mr Berlusconi. Support from either the UDC or Mr Follini and his allies could guarantee Mr Prodi the votes he badly needs.