Berlusconi’s party pulls backing for Monti government

Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party withdrew its support for Italy’s technocrat prime minister Mario Monti, setting up a conflict that could force an early election.

The People of Freedom (PDL) walked out of a Senate confidence vote on a package of economic measures and said it would abstain in a separate confidence vote in the lower house after criticism of Berlusconi from a senior government minister.

Although the symbolic moves did not directly threaten the survival of Monti’s government, the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) indicated it would ask President Giorgio Napolitano to dissolve parliament if Monti could not be sure of the backing of the centre-right PDL.