MILAN (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi invited Italy's main opposition party on Monday to work together on a plan to revive Italy's sluggish economy.
Berlusconi, who narrowly survived a confidence vote last month, urged the head of the largest opposition party to agree on a plan including tax breaks for businesses to kick-start the euro zone's third largest economy.
"I'm asking (Democratic Party leader Pierluigi) Bersani to work together in parliament to discuss without prejudice a big bipartisan plan to re-launch the Italian economy," Berlusconi wrote in a letter to Italian daily Il Corriere della Sera.
"If we are able to grow by three to four percent in five years, and markets understand that this is our direction (...) our winning the fight against debt will become the start of a virtuous cycle," Berlusconi wrote.
Italy has one of the euro zone's highest debt burdens at an expected 119 percent of national output this year. It expects to reduce its deficit to 2.9 percent of GDP by next year, underneath the European Union's 3 percent target.
The centre-left opposition has called Berlusconi to resign over an investigation into allegations he paid for sex with young women, including a 17-year-old nightclub dancer.
Berlusconi denies any wrongdoing and says he has never paid for sex. He says politically motivated leftist magistrates are bent on destroying him and he has refused to face questioning.
(Editing by John Stonestreet)
