Italian PM crows about defeating 'bureaucratic coup'

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. The prime minister's popularity is at a record low and he is coming under ever greater pressure from three trials in which he is accused of bribery, tax fraud, abuse of power and having sex for money with a 17-year-old girl. There are also growing signs of infighting within the government.