ROME, December 21, SPA -- Italian Premier Romano Prodi's government survived three confidence votes in the Senate and won final approval Friday for next year's budget. Prodi has a thin majority in the upper house ofparliament, and the votes of confidence, held betweenThursday evening and Friday morning, represented a test forhis shaky center-left coalition, the Associated Press reported. The three votes were called to speed up passage of thelegislation through parliament. The budget, which alreadypassed in the lower house, needed to be approved byparliament by the end of the year. The 2008 budget aims to cut the country's deficit to 2.2percent of gross domestic product. The government faces another confidence vote in the Senate_ this time on a pension reform _ before the Christmasholiday break. If a government loses a confidence vote, ithas to resign.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/511227