Italy’s new PM wins confidence vote

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi won a crucial confidence vote in early Tuesday, managing at least for now to tamp down anger among his own Democrats over his brash, quick rise to power.

The vote in the Senate came hours after he argued that he could get his country back to work after the last three prime ministers failed.

Renzi, 39, the country’s youngest-ever prime minister, was sworn into office on Saturday along with an unusually young Cabinet, many of whom are newcomers to national government.

The Senate voted 169 to 139 to confirm Renzi's broad coalition, which ranges from his center-left Democrats to center-right forces formerly loyal to ex–Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Renzi needed at least 155 votes to clinch the victory, one of two mandatory confidence votes.

The second vote, in the Chamber of Deputies, is expected later Tuesday. Renzi's coalition has a comfortable majority in the lower chamber. His coalition's numbers were tighter in the Senate, especially after some of his Democrats questioned on the eve of the vote if he deserved their backing.

Renzi insisted that debt-laden Italy must heal its public finances not because Germany's Angela Merkel or the European Central Bank chief wants that but because "it's our children" who seek a future.

He promised new laws to slash payroll taxes to encourage hiring but didn't say how Italy would recoup the lost tax revenue.

U.S. President Barack Obama telephoned Renzi on Monday, welcoming the new government's reform agenda and its focus on jobs and growth, Renzi's office said in a statement.

On Sunday, Renzi's chief of staff, Graziano Delrio, caused a stir by suggesting that the government was considering raising taxes on government bonds, which are popular with Italian savers.

Wire services