The Italian Prime Minister, Romano Prodi, last night won a vote of confidence in the Senate allowing him to stay in office.
One week after resigning over a defeat on foreign policy, Mr Prodi's 162 to 157 victory provided a boost for his fragile nine-party coalition, which has been in office for just over nine months.
A second vote of confidence will be taken tomorrow in the lower house, where Mr Prodi has a much larger majority.
To keep together the coalition, which stretches from hard line communists and Greens to centrist Catholics, Mr Prodi had them sign on to a 12-point 'non-negotiable' agreement.
The agreement includes support for Italy's international commitments, notably the 1,800-strong peacekeeping contingent in Afghanistan.
Two communist Senators in the Prodi coalition sparked the recent crisis by voting against the government on the issue.
