Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday called a confidence vote to show he still enjoys a parliamentary majority, warning of catastrophic crisis and early elections if his government lost the motion.
Berlusconi told parliament his centre-government is united despite "accidents along the way" and said Italy remained committed to balancing the budget by 2013.
He said there was no credible alternative to his government and that early elections would not solve the problems of a country mired in the euro zone debt crisis.