Fate of Italy's government hangs in balance after setback

ROME (AP) — The survival of Italian Premier Mario Draghi’s government hung in the balance Thursday before a crucial Senate vote on a relief bill for soaring energy costs, after a key ally vowed to boycott the measure.

While senators publicly debated the bill, which extends gasoline subsidies expiring within days, backdoor maneuvering by allies in Draghi's 17-month-old pandemic unity government explored possible strategy to avoid risking the premier's stepping down.

On Wednesday night, former Premier Giuseppe Conte announced that his splintering, populist 5-Star Movement would boycott the vote.

At the debate's conclusion, Minister for Parliamentary Relations Federico D'Inca announced that the government was tying the bill to a make-or-break confidence vote.

If the government loses, Draghi would be forced to tender his resignation to the Italian president, who tapped him to replace Conte's tottering premiership in February 2021.

But even if it squeaks by, thanks to the votes of dozens of lawmakers who during the legislature's term, have defected from the 5-Stars, Draghi was largely expected to offer his resignation over Conte's betrayal on the measure vital to the premier's plans to help citizens and industry during the energy crisis.

The 5-Stars oppose a provision of the bill to allow Rome to operate a garbage incinerator on the outskirts of the chronically trash-choked Italian capital. Conte has refused allies' cajoling to budge, even after Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio recently broke from the Movement over the populists' stance, forming his own party.

The vote on the bill, which reduces taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, as well as extends utility bill relief, was being held in early afternoon.

Without the votes of the 5-Stars, the bill presumably could muster...