Premier Romano Prodi on Thursday touted the successes of his government over the past year, mapped out its program for 2008 and replied to critics within his own coalition, in particular Liberal Democrat leader Lamberto Dini.
Prodi kicked off his end-of-the-year press conference by highlighting the achievements of his government in the economic field where he said unemployment had fallen to its lowest level in the past 24 years, while 2007 will close with the budget deficit around 2% of GDP and the national debt will be on its way to fall below 100% before the end of the current legislature in 2010.
''Italy is a country which is back on track. Italy is no longer the sick man of Europe but is on the road to recovery, as data on the upturn in our exports shows,'' Prodi said.
Although the premier would have preferred to focus on his government's achievements, the press was more interested on the executive's immediate future, in the light of a political broadside fired by Dini over the holidays.
In a number of interviews, Dini said Prodi no longer had a majority in the Senate or the country and that he was being ''headstrong'' by insisting that only he could lead a government in the current legislature.
According to the Senate foreign affairs committee chairman, a new government with a broader majority was needed to push through needed reforms to then allow for elections.
Although his words were welcomed by the center-right opposition, within the majority the consensus was for either a Prodi government or elections.
In his reply to Dini, Prodi stressed that ''a government can only be brought down by a vote of confidence, not by interviews or declarations''.
''If I lose a vote of confidence there will be no alternative to early elections. If there is no confidence vote then we move forward and respect the commitment we made with the electorate,'' he added.
''There must be a reason to vote down a government and given this executive's achievements, which were far beyond expectations, I cannot understand Senator Dini's position.
''We were elected with a program and as a coalition. I will continue to try and meet the expectations of the members of the coalition in full respect of the program we all signed together,'' Prodi said.
The premier confirmed that there will be a coalition summit in January but ruled out any major policy change or government reshuffle in the near future.
(Dini later said that he was ready to meet Prodi for a showdown parliament).
Turning his attention to electoral reform, a key issue for Dini's tiny party, Prodi said it was fundamental that it passed by a broad majority in parliament.
Prodi said he was in favor of a law which guaranteed a place for minority parties and added that he thought bipartisan dialogue on electoral reform so far has been positive.
A new law, he explained, was not the responsibility of the government but of parliament as a whole.
In a swipe at the previous center-right government, Prodi recalled that Italy's previous, first-past-the-post electoral law ''was a good system but it was replaced by force by majority which in this way hoped to win re-election, but did not''
Looking ahead to the coming year, Prodi said his government would seek to make progress on a law to govern conflicts of interest and one on media reform, two issues which directly involved former premier and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi.
Prodi also said judicial reform would be on his 2008 agenda.
In regards to the sale of the Treasury's controlling stake in national carrier Alitalia, Prodi said his government will not bow to lobbies and political pressure on this and other privatization operations.
During his press conference, Prodi praised the ''professionalism and humanity'' of the Italian military deployed in missions abroad.
He also touted this past year's successes against organized crime with the arrests of key Cosa Nostra fugitives and said ''this government will not stop until this cancer is eradicated''.
In conclusion, Prodi said that 2008 ''will be a crucial year, one which comes in the middle of the legislature and during which we must prepare Italy for the future.
''This will not be easy, but we must succeed in overcoming any and all insecurity and discouragement. I am an eternal optimist who believes that through patience and calm, doing what must be done, we will regain our place in the world in an extremely short period of time''.
