ROME, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Saturday he was confident his government would survive a crucial vote in parliament due in the coming weeks and Italy would not have to hold early elections.
Berlusconi has tied the future of his centre-right government to a 5-point programme of measures ranging from justice reforms to help for Italy’s poor south. The measures will be the subject of a confidence motion in parliament.
If he loses, he has pledged to seek new elections by the end of the year. Elections would otherwise not be due until 2013.
A split with former ally Gianfranco Fini, who has the backing of 34 lower house deputies, means that Berlusconi can no longer count on a sure majority, but he said he did not believe the split would cost him the support of parliament.
"It would be unpardonable that for pure personal interests, this support should be reduced, betraying the mandate and confidence of the electors," he said in a message to supporters posted on a website of his People of Freedom (PDL) party.
"If that were to happen, we would return to the voters who would know whom to give their vote to. But I am sure that this will not happen."
The future of the government has been open since the break at the end of July with Fini, speaker of the lower house and co-founder of the PDL, who had chafed increasingly at Berlusconi’s dominance of the party.
The text on the PDL website held out an offer to the rebel centre-right deputies backing Fini, saying any who wished to stay in the party "will be able to count on our friendship, our solidarity and loyalty, also when electoral lists are drawn up."
In a possible sign of a more conciliatory approach, Berlusconi said he would drop a measure to set time limits on criminal trials, the most contentious issue originally envisaged in the confidence motion.
"As far as I am concerned, there will be no reference to the so-called ‘short trials’ issue in the motion on justice to be brought before parliament for approval very soon," he said. He gave no further details.
The measure, which has already been approved in the Senate but which still has to go through the Lower House of parliament, has been widely criticised as an instrument to remove the threat of a corruption trial pending against Berlusconi.
The measure would limit most trials to a maximum 6.5 years and would effectively end a trial in which Berlusconi is accused of bribing British lawyer David Mills to hush incriminating details of his business dealings. Both have denied wrongdoing.
Despite the acrimony generated in the split with Fini, with accusations of treason, betrayal and dirty tricks flying around on all sides, the actual policy differences between the two camps do not appear very great.
Fini’s allies have said they will support the government in parliament as long as it sticks to its electoral commitments, but they are also well aware they have the numbers to topple the prime minister after parliament resumes sitting next week.
In a speech to a party meeting of the centrist API party on Saturday, Fini avoided controversy, saying there should be no place for personal feuds in politics.
"There should be no such thing as an enemy. In political debate there should only be adversaries. There is a substantial difference."
