Italian Premier Romano Prodi went before the Lower House and premier's address opened a floor debate which will conclude with a confidence vote on Wednesday, after which Prodi will face the almost impossible task of winning a confidence test in the Senate.

Mastella,ex-justice minister decided to withdraw the support of his Udeur party, without the Udeur's three senators Prodi no longer holds a majority in both houses of parliament.

Italian premier Prod on Tuesday gave15-minute address to the Lower House, "proudly" defended his government's the past 20 months performance added “this government has brought benefits to the nation and I am convinced that it will be able to do so in the future. "Government, Prodi observed, “was the result of a pact for the legislature based on a common five-year program which has already put Italy back on its feet." We need continuity of action above all at a moment when the world economy is faced with negative developments," Prodi said.

The Udeur defected senators confirmed that it will vote against the government both in the Lower House and Senate, while opposition leaders called for Prodi's immediate resignation.

Former premier Silvio Berlusconi, absent from the floor, summed up the opposition's position by defining the confidence votes as “a useless formality because the situation is clear."

Forza Italia leader and most likely center right candidate for premier said he expected to reply to Prodi in the Lower House on Wednesday, before the confidence vote.

Economy Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa warned the political crisis had come at “the least appropriate moment to interrupt the work underway" on improving Italy's public finances. Mastella said on Monday that he had decided to bring the government down because of differences on a number of issues including electoral reform, the proposed referendum on the current electoral law and relations with the new Democratic Party, which was created through the fusion of the Democratic Left and centrist Daisy parties.