ROME, April 30 (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Enrico
Letta won a final confidence vote on Tuesday and left for Berlin
to push his agenda of easing austerity to revive the economy
with Chancellor Angela Merkel, champion of Europe’s increasingly
unpopular belt-tightening.

The 46-year-old Letta was sworn in on Sunday at the head of
an uneasy right-left coalition government and won a confidence
vote in the Senate after a similar victory in the lower house on
Monday.

ROME (Reuters) – New Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta won a final confidence vote in his broad coalition government on Tuesday before setting off on a European tour to push his agenda of growth rather than austerity to revive the recession-hit economy.

Even before departure, Letta came under pressure from the partners in his right-left government to re-negotiate Rome’s commitment to keeping its budget within European Union rules. It was an early indication of the difficult juggling act he faces at the head of an uneasy coalition.

ROME (Reuters) – Two Italian police officers were shot and wounded on Sunday outside the prime minister’s office in Rome at the same as Prime Minister Enrico Letta’s new government was being sworn in just a kilometer (mile) away.

It was not immediately clear whether the attack was linked to the launch of the new government, but the episode came at a time of bitter political division with rising social tensions exacerbated by a long economic slump.

ROME (Reuters) – Silvio Berlusconi repeated a demand on Monday to be included in any new Italian government, but there was no sign his center-left rival would renege on a promise not to ally with the tycoon as a way out of political stalemate.

Pier Luigi Bersani – asked by the president to try to form a coalition after a February election that gave him a majority in the lower house but not in the Senate – has ruled out an alliance with the media baron’s People of Freedom (PDL).

ROME, March 18 (Reuters) – Former Italian Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi promised a wave of protests if a centre-left
candidate was elected to succeed President Giorgio Napolitano,
as the stalemate after last month’s deadlocked elections
deepened on Monday.

Electing the new head of state is the next big task for
parliament, now split into three rival blocs after the election
which left the centre-left in control of the lower house but
short of a majority in the Senate and unable to govern.

ROME, March 16 (Reuters) – Italy’s centre-left alliance
scraped a narrow victory in a vote to appoint the new speakers
of parliament on Saturday but the fragile margin of success
underlined how hard it will be to form a stable government after
last month’s deadlocked election.

The appointment of the speakers was parliament’s first act
since the February election, in which the centre-left formation
of Pier Luigi Bersani won a lower house majority but not enough
to control the Senate and form a government.

ROME (Reuters) – President Giorgio Napolitano is considering appointing a new technocrat government led by a non-politician as one way out of Italy’s political stalemate, sources said on Tuesday.

Such a solution would come into play if center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani failed to form a government after receiving an initial mandate from Napolitano, as is expected, they said.

ROME, Oct 11 (Reuters) – Finmeccanica must act
quickly to seize opportunities arising from the collapse of the
merger between defence groups BAE Systems and EADS
, Italy’s defence minister said on Thursday.

Europe’s two biggest aerospace groups will go back to the
drawing board to find new strategies after Germany stymied the
creation of the world’s biggest arms and aviation company.

ROME (Reuters) – Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Friday dashed supporters’ hopes that he would at last announce his candidacy for coming elections and remove one element in Italy’s chronic political uncertainty.

Berlusconi failed to turn up for his annual appointment at a major youth rally near the ancient Colosseum in Rome where his supporters had wanted him to finally launch the political comeback that top aides have predicted for weeks.

ROME (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Italians on Wednesday they could not expect to reap the rewards of economic reforms in just a few months but that the experience of her own country showed it was worth persevering.

Speaking at a news conference in Rome with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, Merkel said Germany had gone through tough and unpopular reforms such as raising the retirement age, in order to bring down unemployment and turn around the economy.