Berlusconi's bargain
October 26, 2011
It was a long night for Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and members of the Italian parliament: negotiations on measures to get a handle on Italy's massive debt problems lasted well into the small hours of Wednesday.
But the all-nighter did yield results, as Berlusconi reached a deal with his coalition partners, the Northern League, on a reform of Italy's pension system. The head of the Northern League, Umberto Bossi, finally agreed to raising the age of retirement from 65 to 67.
Pension reform was among the list of demands made by Italy's EU partners before investments are made in Italian sovereign bonds. Berlusconi can now bring a sign of progress in Italy's ongoing negotiations to an EU summit on Wednesday in Brussels.
There, Italy will get quick feedback of what the rest of the EU thinks of its progress on debt crisis negotiations.
"In the end we have found a way. Now we will see what the EU says," said Bossi late on Tuesday.
Despite the agreement on pension reform, which was a long-standing sticking point even within Berlusconi's coalition, Italy is deeply divided when it comes to carrying out the rest of the reforms the EU is calling for.
There have been several votes of confidence in Berlusconi's government recently, and there have been calls for him to step down.
Author: Matt Zuvela (Reuters, AP)
Editor: Nicole Goebel