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M. Continuo

Italy PM Renzi wins confidence vote over budget


    ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Friday won a confidence vote in the Senate on next year's budget that scraps a hated tax on primary residences and slows deficit reduction.

    The Senate voted 164 to 116 to approved the government's spending package, which now faces approval in the lower house. By law, the budget must be passed by the end of the year.

    Renzi staked the fate of his government on the confidence vote in order to accelerate the bill's passage in the Senate, where it may have to return if it is amended in the Chamber of Deputies.

    (Reporting by Steve Scherer)