Italian Premier Romano Prodi battled to cobble together a draft budget acceptable to all his allies on Thursday amid increasing signs of restlessness in his centre-left coalition, according to Italian News Agency ANSA.
With his alliance looking more fractious than ever, Prodi set about revising a budget plan which was rejected by left-wing elements at a coalition summit on Wednesday night.
The premier hopes to win his ministers' backing for the 10- billion-euro package at a cabinet meeting scheduled for Friday. In order to avoid severe embarrassment he must assure all parties in his alliance are on board by then.
"We expect Prodi to look at and discuss our proposals before the cabinet meeting," leftist leaders Fabio Mussi and Franco Giordano said on Thursday after a meeting with like-minded allies.
Leftists feel their views have been ignored and complain that commitments such as a promised tax hike on capital gains have fallen by the wayside along with measures to promote job stability.
Prodi is obliged to satisfy all his allies because his government has a razor-thin majority in the Senate and desertions by even a few senators would sink his budget.
The draft includes tax cuts worth 3 billion euros, the bulk of which comes from a slashing of taxes on first homes. Some 2 billion euros will be spent on the welfare system and 2.4 billion will go on public sector job contracts.
Source: Xinhua
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