Italy government coalition averts split over F-35 jet purchase

Italy's ruling coalition averted a split over a motion to scrap its purchase of 90 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets on Wednesday by agreeing to seek parliament's approval before going ahead with further spending on the program.

The awkward right-left governing bloc, formed two months ago to end a political stalemate that followed February's deadlocked national election, risked fragmenting over a vote to pull out of the fighter program first agreed more than a decade ago.

The lower-house motion, presented last month and supported by opposition groups and some members of Prime Minister Enrico Letta's center-left Democratic Party (PD), was gathering further support in the PD even as late as Tuesday, the eve of the vote.

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