Rome - Mr Romano Prodi's government was endangered yesterday after the Communist Refoundation party, which supports the majority in parliament, voted against the enlargement of NATO.
"I hope not, but I can't deny that it exists," Mr Nerio Nesi, head of Refoundation's economic department said of the risk of a crisis. "This is not the only difference we have and when I use the word difference I am being very diplomatic."
The party voted against a Senate resolution on Wednesday night on the enlargement of the alliance to include Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The measure passed in the upper house late on Wednesday night.
Refoundation has 11 seats in the Senate and the government does not depend on the party for its majority in the upper house, where the resolution passed with the help of the centre-right opposition and centrist parties.
But Mr Prodi's government, which marks its second anniversary in office on Saturday, faces a real danger in the lower house, where the government relies on Refoundation's 34 seats for its majority. The vote on the resolution is expected to go to the lower house in the next few days.