Italian government calls confidence vote on budget law

Italian government on Thursday called a confidence vote in the Lower House of Parliament over the 2014 budget law, namely the "Stability Law", local media reported. The decision aims to accelerate the approval process, since the budget has to be ratified by both houses of the Parliament before the end of the year. Opposition groups had put forward more than 800 amendments to the law. By calling a confidence vote, the cabinet will ensure the Stability Law would be voted without any substantial changes. It will be the fourth confidence vote Prime Minister Enrico Letta's government faces since October. An unlikely failure of the vote in Parliament could bring the government down. Letta's government is backed by the centre-left Democratic Party, to which the Prime Minister belongs, and smaller groups of centrist and centre-right lawmakers led by Berlusconi's once loyalist, Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano. Alfano split from Berlusconi's party after the media tycoon was ousted from the Parliament in November over a tax fraud conviction, thus ensuring the government holds a smaller but more stable majority. The majority remain in place after the election of the new centre-left leader Matteo Renzi on Dec. 8, who vowed to remain aligned with Letta for the next 12 to 15 months.