Italy's government won a confidence vote in the lower house of parliament today, in favour of reforms to increase the taxation powers of local authorities.
The measures, strongly supported by the Northern League party, a key ally of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, may be definitively approved by the cabinet as early as tommorow.
The chamber of deputies voted 314 to 291, with two abstentions, to pass the measures.
Since Mr Berlusconi's former ally Gianfranco Fini split from the ruling PDL party in July last year, the Northern League has held the fate of the government in its hands and its importance has only grown as a sex scandal has engulfed the 74-year-old premier.
President Giorgio Napolitano last month refused to sign a decree on the taxation measures. Mr Berlusconi's cabinet had approved the decree at an emergency meeting even though the measures had been rejected by a special parliamentary panel.
Northern League leader Umberto Bossi, who has the power to bring down the government, had promised his supporters a deal on the package aimed at increasing local autonomy and cutting subsidies from the prosperous north to the poorer south.
Reuters