28/09/2013 09:33
Italy PM Enrico Letta threatens to resign
Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta says he will resign unless his cabinet gets clear backing in a parliamentary vote expected to be called next week, the BBC reported.
His warning came after the government failed to approve key budget measures.
Mr Letta's government is an unstable coalition between his party and that of ex-PM Silvio Berlusconi.
Berlusconi could lose his Senate seat after his fraud conviction. His backers say they would leave the cabinet in protest.
"I have no intention of limping along or being the subject of continuous threats," Mr Letta said in a statement after the government meeting late on Friday.
"Either we go forward, and the interests of the country and citizens are put first, or this experience ends here."
Two government ministers said that Mr Letta was now planning to call a confidence vote in parliament next week.
The friction between Mr Letta's centre-left Democratic Party and Berlusconi's People of Freedom party (PDL), on the centre-right, is now paralysing the government, the BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome reports.