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Berlusconi ministers 'resign posts' Berlusconi ministers 'resign from Italian government'
(about 1 hour later)
Ministers from ex-PM Silvio Berlusconi's party are resigning from Italy's shaky coalition government, a spokesman says. All five ministers in the party of Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi are resigning from the shaky coalition government, a spokesman says.
Prime Minister Enrico Letta flew back from New York on Friday in attempt to prevent the coalition from collapsing. The development follows weeks of worsening relations between Mr Berlusconi's party and Prime Minister Enrico Letta's centre-left grouping.
Mr Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party objects to a planned tax rise. Mr Letta flew back from New York on Friday in an attempt to prevent the government from collapsing.
Its MPs had already threatened to resign if a Senate committee voted next week to expel the ex-PM over his tax fraud conviction. Saturday's resignations suggest those efforts have failed.
The prime minister said late on Friday that he would quit unless his government won a confidence vote due next week in parliament.
In a statement, Mr Berlusconi described that ultimatum as "unacceptable".
Mr Berlusconi's centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party objects to a planned increase in sales tax.
Fresh elections?
However the former prime minister and billionaire is himself at the centre of much of the tension: his conviction for tax evasion means he should be expelled from the Senate.
The BBC's correspondent in Rome, Alan Johnston, says the government is being pulled apart as Mr Berlusconi fights the moves to expel him.
Fresh elections are a real possibility, our correspondent says, but there may also be an attempt to stitch together a new governing coalition drawn from factions in the current parliament.