Italy prepares for confidence vote

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told members of parliament they risked plunging Italy into the middle of the euro zone's debt crisis if they voted against him in a no-confidence vote due on Tuesday.

Speaking a day before a showdown that could force him from office and trigger early elections, Berlusconi said his government had kept Italy out of the turmoil but that
the threat of instability remained.

“There will be major problems if Italy does not have a government,” says Professor James Walston is the Chair of the Department of International Relations at the American University of Rome.

“The major problem is there is no serious alternative to Berlusconi,” he told Vatican Radio.

Walston said if there are elections, chances are Berlusconi would win, providing no change.

Listen to James Walston's full interview with Charles Collins: