Italy Senate approves economic reform bill

• published: 30 Jul 2015
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1. Wide exterior of Italian Senate 2. Police outside Senate 3. Pan of Senate interior 4. Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti taking his seat 5. Wide of senators 6. Mid of Senator Roberto Castelli from the Northern League 7. Wide of right side of parliament 8. Mid of left side of parliament 9. Mid of Deputy Chamber speaker, UPSOUND: "The voting is closed, the Senate approves." 10. Mid of electronic sign reading (Italian) "In Favour 156, Against 12, Abstentions 1" 11. Mid of government ministers 12. Wide of Senate 13. Mid of Under-secretary Gianni Letta entering Senate, passing journalists, UPSOUND: (Italian) "No comment." 14. Wide of exterior of Senate with people passing 15. SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Gian Piero Scanu, Senator, Democratic Party "On the side of the Democratic Party there is satisfaction for us to be the mechanism for the change that the country needs." 16. Rear of Italian Senate, guards at door 17. SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Roberto Castelli, Senator, Northern League Party: (responding to question: What do you think is going to happen in the future with Berlusconi's party) "We will see what happens, for the moment, everything is changing." 18. Guards at door of Senate 19 SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Sandro Bondi, Senator, People of Freedom Party: (commenting on Mario Monti) "It doesn't seems to me that Senator Monti does not belong to any party. He was named senator for life by the President of the Republic. He is a technocrat." 20. Close-up of guards outside Senate 21. People on street outside Senate STORYLINE: Italy's Senate approved crucial economic reforms demanded by the European Union on Friday - the first step in paving the way for Premier Silvio Berlusconi to resign as early as this weekend and a transitional government to be formed. The 156-12 vote took place after respected economist Mario Monti - widely expected to become the interim prime minister - was welcomed with applause in the Senate chamber, where he was officially designated senator for life. Italy's president bestowed the title on Monti two days earlier to signal to roiling financial markets that he intended to ask the 68-year-old former European commissioner to try to form a transitional government after Berlusconi leaves office. The reform legislation now passes to the lower Chamber of Deputies, which is expected to vote on it by Saturday. A Cabinet meeting has been scheduled immediately after the vote, leading to speculation that Berlusconi might tender his resignation to Italy's president as early as Saturday night. While many politicians appeared to be rallying around Monti, divisions remained within Berlusconi's People of Freedom party and among his allies over whether to support him and under what terms. Sandro Bondi, a senator in Berlusconi's party, told reporters on Friday that Monti "does not belong to any party. He was named senator for life by the President of the Republic. He is a technocrat." Roberto Castelli, a senator in the Northern League party, said the future was uncertain. "We will see what happens, for the moment, everything is changing," he said. But the prospect of a government headed by the non-partisan Monti calmed markets for a second day, with Italy's 10-year borrowing rate down a further 0.21 of a percentage point to 6.59 percent. The Milan stock index was up 1.7 percent. Italy is under intense pressure to prove it has a strategy to deal with its debts, which stand at 1.9 (t) trillion euros - equivalent to 2.6 (t) trillion) US dollars, or a huge 120 percent of economic output. It has to rollover a little more than 300 (b) billion euros of its debts next year alone. But economic growth is weak and the government failed to enact reforms to revive it over the past decade. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/4607a2b01f871b309605e09e22b5d505 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork