Italy's new technocratic government led by Prime Minister Mario Monti on Friday won the last of two mandatory parliament confidence votes when it received the endorsement of the lower house Chamber of Deputies.
Legislators voted by 556 to 61 in favour of the government.
Late Thursday, the government won a similar confidence votes in
the upper-house Senate received the endorsement of the Senate.
All political parties except the right-wing Northern League backed
the government, which has been tasked with restoring investor
confidence in Italy's debt-ridden economy.
Speaking during the debate ahead of the Chamber of Deputies vote
Monti announced he would be travelling to Strasbourg on Thursday for
a meeting with the leaders of Italy's main eurozone partners
"I will meet, upon their request with (German Chancellor Angela)
Merkel and (French President Nicolas) Sarkozy: a three-way meeting
to, from now on, permanently offer Italy's contribution to solving
the euro's problems," Monti said.
Monti is also due to meet European Union President Herman Van
Rompuy in Brussels next Tuesday, his office said. On the same day,
Monti is also expected to have talks with European Commission
President Jose Manuel Barroso.
On Thursday new Italian premier who is a former EU commissioner
announced plans to cut public spending and stimulate economic growth
- moves deemed necessary to reassure market concerns over Italy's
credit worthiness.
Monti said his government would aim to eliminate Italy's budget
deficit by 2013, a pledges first made in recent months by former
prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Plans include the possible introduction of a property tax on first
homes, pension reforms including in some cases raising the retirement
age from 60 to 67 and the scrapping of certain branches of the public
administration, such as provincial governments.
Monti also said that to stimulate growth, the government intends
to review current laws governing the hiring and firing of employees
which he described as being "too rigid".
