Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government won a confidence vote in parliament Tuesday over a security package that includes measures to fight crime and a contested proposal to suspend some trials.
The lower house passed the proposal 322-267 and the measure now goes to the upper chamber for final approval. If the government had lost the confidence vote it would have had to resign, but Berlusconi's conservatives enjoy a wide margin in both houses of parliament.
The security package, which follows Berlusconi's election promises to crack down on crime, increases jail sentences for offenders who are also illegal immigrants and allows authorities to deploy soldiers to patrol cities and sensitive areas.
That measure is seen as particularly aimed at Naples, which is still recovering from a garbage collection crisis and where residents routinely burn piles of uncollected trash and stage protests to block the opening of new dumps.
Initially, the package also included a measure that would have suspended for a year trials for some alleged crimes committed before mid-2002. The opposition had denounced the move, saying it was a "premier-saving measure" designed to suspend Berlusconi's corruption trial in Milan.
The measure was modified for Tuesday's vote, giving judges the final say on whether to suspend a trial for up to 18 months. Proponents say the suspension would relieve courts from a backlog of cases and allow them to focus on violent offenses.
In the Milan trial, Berlusconi is accused of ordering payment in 1997 of at least $600,000 to his co-defendant, British lawyer David Mills, in exchange for false testimony at two Berlusconi trials in the 1990s. The defendants deny the charges.
Berlusconi's conservatives are pushing through parliament a separate proposal that would grant immunity from prosecution to the country's top four officials, including the premier. The lower house approved the measure last week and it is expected to pass in the Senate as well.
Source: AP News
