Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi is holding crisis talks over the future of his government after it failed to secure a parliamentary vote of support for its foreign policy.![Forza Italia, the Italian opposition party headed by Silvio Berlusconi, called for Prodi to resign [EPA]](http://mwcnews.net/images/stories/Europe/4/Silvio-Berluscon.jpg "Forza Italia, the Italian opposition party headed by Silvio Berlusconi, called for Prodi to resign [EPA]")
Forza Italia, the Italian opposition party headed by Silvio Berlusconi, called for Prodi to resign [EPA]
Massimo D'Alema, the foreign minister, had said before the vote that the centre-left government should resign if it did not command majority support on foreign policy.
The motion in the Senate received 158 votes in favour - below the necessary majority of 160 votes - and was followed by a chorus of opposition calls for the government to "quit, quit, quit".
There is no constitutional requirement for Prodi to step down.
Thousands rally
|
Both policies are strongly opposed by the left, which is part of Prodi's multi-party government.
D'Alema said that to go back on the approval that the prime minister gave last month for the base enlargement would be a "hostile act" toward the United States.
More than 80,000 people took part in a rally last Saturday in Vicenza against the enlargement.
Prodi's coalition narrowly beat Silvio Berlusconi's conservatives in a general election last year.
His fragile ruling coalition, which ranges from Catholics to communists, has only a one-seat majority in the senate but in the past had managed to win majority support despite divisions by calling confidence votes.
Tags: Romano Prodi Italy