Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi crowed on Saturday about defeating a “bureaucratic coup” in the form of a confidence vote and said he was sure he would see out his mandate until 2013. “They tried a bureaucratic coup but we remained cohesive and we rebuffed the attack,” Berlusconi said in a phone-in on television chat show Studio Aperto on one of the channels owned by his business empire. “This opposition is in disarray and it will take them a long time to become credible,” he said, adding: “I am calm and determined. We have the numbers to govern and we will continue until the end of the legislature.” Berlusconi’s centre-right coalition on Friday won the confidence vote with 316 votes in favour and 301 against — but commentators said the victory was unlikely to reassure financial markets or put an end to calls for him to resign.
