The Italian government appears to have cranked up its pressure on Fiat with Premier Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday claiming the Italian automaker did not want green incentives this year to help boost sales. "We were examining the possibility of renewing the incentives but it would appear that Fiat is not interested in having them", he told the press.

"The question is still on the table and we are also in contact with other players in the automotive sector. We'll see how things go. We are always ready to lend a hand where it is needed," Berlusconi said. The premier was apparently referring to an interview in Thursday's edition of the Turin daily La Stampa, owned by Fiat, in which the company's CEO, Segio Marchionne, indicated that the automaker could adjust to whatever the government decided. On the incentives, Marchionne said "the government will make its decision and we will accept it without making a fuss. But this decision must come soon to end this uncertainty. Whatever happens we will be able to deal with the situation and the market". The government's cash-for-clunkers initiatives in 2009 allowed Fiat to sell some two million vehicles in Italy, the same as the year before, and the automaker has already said that without new incentives sales would all by at least 15%.

Although Fiat in its latest restructuring plan agreed to government demands that it boost domestic production, the executive apparently remains unhappy over the carmaker's decision to shut down its only factory in Sicily. Fiat, which has five production center in Italy, justified closing the Termini Imerese plant on the grounds that it was too costly produce cars there, additional 1,200 euros per vehicle. Marchionne confirmed in the La Stampa interview that the decision to close the plant was definitive but said that Fiat was ready to work with the government and unions to find a solution for the social impact of the closure. He also pointed to a paradox that Fiat would lose less money by suspending production and paying staff their salaries until retirement than by keeping production running at Termini Imerese. The automaker's decision to close the Sicilian plant has the support of Italy's powerful industrial employers association Confindustria whose chairman, Emma Marcegaglia, said ''if a factory cannot be competitive for economic and logistical reasons, the problem is not trying to keep it running but to redeploy the work force to reduce the risk of unemployment''.

''Keeping plants operating which cannot stand alone on the market is a cost for the company and for the nation as a whole,'' she added. Unions strongly oppose shutting down Termini Imerese and on Wednesday staged a nationwide four-hour strike at Fiat.Fiat also came under fire on Thursday from Senate Speaker Renato Schifani, Italy's second highest institutional figure after the president, a leading member of Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PdL) party and a native Sicilian. According to Schifani, Fiat's decision to close Termini Imerese was "wicked" because the plant was strategic for the south and the economically depressed south, known as the Mezzogiorno, could not "suffer any further setbacks". He also said that Fiat should pay more attention to the "ethical and social" aspects of its decision. According to the Senate speaker, employment in Sicily was pivotal because it was the state's "first response to the Mafia". In Rome, the chairman of the House labor committee, Silvano Mossa, won unanimous support for inviting Marchionne to explain Fiat's decision to close Termini Imerese and its restructuring plan in general.