Wondering if the continent should be worried about the crisis in italy. Prolonged wrangling, snap elections casting doubt over that countrys brittle recovery. We will look at dysfunctional politics in italy and beyond. We will also be checking in with james in our media watch segment. In our newsroom, lets say hello once again to calire. These are the headlines. Washington marches towards its First Federal shutdown in 17 years. If there is no deal on the budget before midnight, 700,000 staff could be sent home. Say some prayers for italy, the words of italys Prime Minister, enrico letta, as he battles to save his coalition. Turkey announces Major Political reforms in keeping the Peace Process with the kurds on the road. They include changes to the electoral system. First, to the u. S. , where Barack Obama Says he is not at all resigned to a government shutdown. This as democrats and republican lawmakers fail to agree on a new budget. That means that at midnight, the government might have to close all nonessential federal services. With more on the potential impact of the government shutdown, here is olivia. For many federal workers in the u. S. , their paycheck is hanging in the balance. Staff at national parks, museums, and other services could be getting some unexpected time off over the next few days. There is a sense of frustration. I just heard on cnn that Congress Went home and did not work through the night. The are here. A lot of us live paycheck to paycheck so we are concerned about it. The u. S. Is facing the possibility of a nationwide shutdown involving a number of federal institutions, Tourist Attractions like yellowstone, the everglades, and the statue of liberty would be shut. The National Gallery in washington would have to close their doors too. The pentagon has warned that they could furlough some of their civilian staff. The Environmental Protection agency could suspend monitoring operations. Schools could be affected and the u. S. Congress and the white house would have to put some nonessential staff on unpaid leave. The situation could prove catastrophic. Financial analysts estimate the shutdown could cost up to 8 billion or week. Per week. Some state structures would not be hit, u. S. Border control, food inspection, and the Federal Reserve would operate as normal. It all stems from the gridlock in government with republicans than democrats at loggerheads over a funding deal over obamacare. The u. S. Has already faced a nationwide shutdown in november and december of 1995, some 800,000 federal employees were ordered to stay at home. As well as having to deal with the looming shutdown, barack obama had tense talks with israels Prime Minister this monday. The meeting focusing on irans diplomatic offensive. This a few days after irans president spoke to president obama on the phone, having told the uns General Assembly that his country poses no threat to the world. Obama told netanyahu that he would be clear eyed in talks with iran. The israeli leader urged them to keep sanctions in place. Netanyahu will address the uns General Assembly on tuesday. Today, it was the turn of syrias foreign minister, among others. This a few days after adopting a resolution ridding the country of chemical weapons. He said those who were fighting the regime are terrorists and that they are being supplied with chemical weapons. There is no civil war in syria. It is a war against terror. This very city, new york, and its people, have witnessed the devastation of terrorism. They were burnt with the fire of extremism and bloodshed the same way we are suffering now in syria. How can some countries hit by the same terrorist acts that we are experiencing now in syria claimed to be fighting terrorism in all parts of the world while supporting it in my country . Moving onto the latest political crisis in italy, the Prime Minister is battling to save his coalition after Silvio Berlusconi pulled his ministers from the cabinet. Enrico letta will go to parliament for a confidence vote and he said he will resign if he does not win. Henry brown has the story. An attempt by Silvio Berlusconi to save his skin, this time by causing the collapse of the Prime Ministers government. Several weeks since his conviction in early august by the court of appeal for tax fraud banning him from Public Office for three years. Several weeks and a game of chess has been played in italy to avoid berlusconis fall. On friday, the Senate Committee is due to decide on his fate. Or the sony hopes to bring about early elections by then. Berlusconi hopes to bring about early elections by then. You can expect a majority of parliament, which would prevent his decline again and again and again. He is not the only one wanting a return to the polls. The Northern League and Beppe Grillos fivestar movement have also expressed hopes for elections. If he does not attract enough support in parliament on wednesday, the italian president may prefer to name a new Prime Minister. It might not even come to that. As many as 20 senators from berlusconis party are said to be ready to form a Breakaway Group if threats continue to bring down italys government, a lettas coalition. The latest political crisis had a negative impact on the european markets. Here to talk us through it is markets. In italy is marcus. In italy, share prices plunged and borrowing costs were up. Absolutely. Of course, italy was hard hit. The stock market was down 1. 2 . Borrowing costs or Interest Rates that italy is paying have gone up to a threemonth high. There are concerns in the markets. We need to say that it was not as bad towards the close of european trading as it was during the Morning Hours here on monday in europe due to the fact that there are reports that 20 senators from Silvio Berlusconis party may go against him, which has put a little bit of it has dampened the market concern, to a certain extent. Italy has a lot of investor eyes on it due to the fact that it is the third biggest member of the eurozone. It is also the third biggest bond market in the world after the United States and japan. Due to the fact that it has immense debts to the tune of more than 2 trillion euros. Of course, if there is political turmoil in italy, the concern is that its economy will go down the drain. It is not just italy riling the markets. Investors concerned about what is happening in the u. S. , a potential government shutdown. Republicans and democrats are continuing to run on capitol hill. So far, not really a deal in sight between these two parties. Which means that at midnight washington time, the u. S. Government or part of the u. S. Government will shut down, which means that 800,000 Civil Servants would have to stay home on tuesday without pay if that goes through. There are concerns from the markets about what that will mean for the u. S. Economy. Those concerns are limited at the time because economists say that if this shutdown is limited in time, if it lasts for a couple of days or maybe up to two weeks, it is not going to hit the u. S. Economy that hard. If the shutdown is longer, about a months time, moodys warns that it could take 1. 4 of the u. S. Growth this year. Thank you very much indeed. It is not enough. That is the reaction from turkeys prokurdish peace and Democracy Party after the Prime Minister announced a package of proposals aimed at democratic reform. A few months after a ceasefire was declared, they include new kurdish rights. A speech about reforms that was longawaited. In the audience, a woman in a headscarf. A secular country with a population that is 99 muslim, turkey was founded on secularism and many still hold the principal dear. Monday, her husband announced the ban would be lifted. We are lifting the ban that bars women from wearing their heads car. Their head scarf. This is a file asian and discriminates against freedom of religion. The speech has been dubbed a democratization package, making he concessions to kurds, making up about 1 5 of the population, to make it easier to get to parliament. The kurds must win 10 of the vote to gain representation. Erdogan said that could be trimmed to five percent or even lower. As a third option, we can remove the National Rush holt altogether and implement a narrow electoral system. Analysts say his biggest concern is jumpstarting the kurdish Peace Process. They gradually began withdrawing fighters. In return, they demanded raider rights and representation. Everyone erdogan is trying to rebuild his public image. This years protests grew into wider ranging criticism about his government. That is all for now. It is time to cross over to francois for the debate. Thanks. Just when we were told that the worst was passed for the eurozone, can one man alone like diffuse of a fresh crisis . Silvio berlusconi has ordered his cabinet ministers to slam the door on italys grand coalition. It is over a height and value added tax. Critics claim the 77yearold is simply holding the country hostage over the senates upcoming vote to bar him from office. Berlusconi cabinet members have are trying to hedge their bets. You can see him watching on as the Prime Minister speaks, claiming he is proberlusconi, but in a different way. Those ministers still resigning and enrico letta is still going to have a tough time cobbling together a noah another coalition. This has markets worried. The last time italians went to the polls, it took nearly two months to form a government. More gridlock could kill the palm the promise of a recovery inside the eurozones thirdlargest economy. It is not just in italy, where politics can seem broken these days. The latest nation to see the big inroads is neighboring austria, which voted in a general election this sunday. Today, we are looking at berlusconi turning the tables on his rivals. With us from brussels, a member of the European Parliament from berlusconis pdl party, fabrizio bertot. Is that the proper way to pronounce it . No. It is ber tot with the t on the end. Lets set the record straight. Thanks for that. From london, Costas Lapavitsas. Welcome back to the debate. Welcome back as well to Francesco Saraceno of the french policy watchdog, the ofce. Thomas friang, who is the founder of youth diplomacy, welcome back as well. And we welcome Valentin Kreilinger of the proeurope think tank, notre europe. You can always join the conversation on facebook and twitter. F24debate. Right now, fabrizio bertot, a meeting of the pdl party taking place. There has been some dissent in the ranks. Five cabinet members have slammed the door of the coalition. Lets state the record clearly. Did they do the right thing, following berlusconis order to leave the government . I suppose they did. The opinion is that the economics cannot support an increase in the tax. I think that is the time to put order in our accounts. But we cannot do it is this really about raising v. A. T. Or stopping Silvio Berlusconi from being barred from office . It is not a problem, berlusconi and the politics alone. If he wanted to do something, he had to do it. The problem is exclusively economic. I just saw an urgency about berlusconi, he declared that he is ready to take on all the economic arguments in the next week. We are ready to do our part for the improvement of what is necessary. But we need elections. People have to choose between the tax party and the no tax party. Is this about raising the v. A. T. . I am an economist, so there are many issues here in italy. One of them is berlusconi, who has held hostage the whole political system. Because of his personal affairs. And then there are the problems of the difference in views among the different parties of the coalition on how to get out of this crisis and put the housing in order. You think that those ministers left so that Silvio Berlusconi will not lose his are the mentoring immunity . His elementary his pa rliamentary immunity . Yes. So a difference of opinion on the timing. The locals with a it or taste on the unfolding political drama. With a bitter taste on the unfolding political drama. Everything is so corrupted around us that we have already drowned. It is our fault. We are to blame. We all need to go there with our pitchforks and take everyone out. Ron berlusconi to the president. From berlusconi to the president. It is hard to believe that italians who cannot find a job have to worry about the problems of just one single person, berlusconi. Some people angry with berlusconi. Some saying kick the bums out, all of them. It is not an issue with italy or we spoke about austria, you can speak about germany and france. We carry a survey stating that 52 of people do not believe in politics and a democratic and National Framework is no longer responsive to todays challenges. That may be another part of the crisis that italy is going through. The political instability, politicians are no longer able to carry on reform needed to prove that National Politicians can address the trial and is the challenges. Of course, mr. Letta will not only be able to lead his way, but italy will have to find a new government to prove that it is able to lead the reform needed. We will get back to the issue of how to deal with the crippling debt in italy. First, lets go to rome and senator lucio malan joins us right now. He is also with the pdl party. Just came out of a meeting with the party, where they have been discussing the parties stance partys stance. What was the crux of it . We have been hearing some within the party wavering over berlusconis order to quit the government. Yes, good evening. We had this meeting with the ministers. Mostly members of the government , those who expressed some disapproval of the decisions. At the end of this meeting, we all agreed that the good thing to do was to be ready to pass all the urgent measures that we have in the parliament to prevent the raising of the sales tax and the added value tax. Are you suggesting that if there is a compromise, those ministers will not quit the government . Yes. They already did quit the government. They are ready to continue along the party. They expressed some worry about the fact that our decision could not be wel understood, so the decision was to explain what was behind what we have proposed and what we have not been able to get from the current government. We agreed that we asked for new elections as soon as possible. In the meantime, we are ready to pass the urgent measures in the parliament currently. And also to stop the rays of the sales tax the raise of the sales tax. Lets just be very clear. If there is agreement on stopping this hike of the sales tax, will your ministers return to government and will there be will you avoid having to have a snap election . No, because we have seen that we have conceptions about government, how to manage the economy, that are not compatible. We do not want to raise taxes. The proposal of the Democratic Party in order to prevent raising the sales tax was to increase the taxes on the fuel. That was not really serious, to exchange one tax or another one. What you are saying is come what may, you are still calling for snap elections. Yes, we are. We need strong decisions. One other question for you. Interior minister has been quoted as saying that he is pro berlusconi in a different way. Are you proberlusconi in a different way . Well, i support the views made tonight and i also think that what he said was we have to be very careful not to senior responsible to seem irresponsible and to be careful about the public opinion. We have to explain very well our group. We have to tell the truth. The truth is that we need strong decisions. This cabinet has performed some good things. But we need to do more in a stronger way. To do that, the only way is to have elections and let the people decide either in favor of the Democratic Party or our platform. Many thanks for joining us coming out of that meeting of Silvio Berlusconis pdl party in rome. I will begin with you, read dilbert out fabrizio bertot. Did i hear correctly that there was a nuanced endorsement of mr. Berlusconi . He did kind of agree that you have to be wary the way you handle things around Silvio Berlusconi these days. I do not think there are so many differences in our party. Lucio malan said that at the end of the meeting this afternoon, they decided to go on approving the economic measures. So i think this is a good position. Anyway, there are no possibilities to be part of a government that is thinking about more taxes. Because taxes are the limits of participation in this government. It is not stable for our programs. We just have to explain that there is nothing to do with the justice problem of berlusconi. They are older than this decision. Last week, the commission brought forward his excommunication from the parliament and the judges are doing their jobs. But the problem in italy is an economic problem. Disagreement of opinion between you and Francesco Saraceno. Let me get you to react to what lucio malan said. He seemed to hedge his bets a little bit when it came to that statement about being pro berlusconi in a different way. I am sorry. O