{{Italian PM Enrico Letta is due to present the government’s 2014 programme as speculation mounts he is to be replaced by party leader Matteo Renzi.}}
The two men held face-to-face talks on Wednesday about Italy’s latest political crisis.
Mr Letta, who formed a Democratic Party-led (PD) coalition last April after an election stalemate, has been publicly criticised by Mr Renzi.
Mr Renzi, the mayor of Florence, became PD leader last December.
Their meeting on Wednesday morning lasted around an hour at the prime minister’s office, the Chigi palace, before Mr Renzi left without making a statement, reports say.
Italian media reports speak of crucial hours for the future of the government, with a Democratic Party meeting scheduled for next week brought forward to Thursday morning.
The 39-year-old mayor of Florence has already said he favours early general elections.
The prime minister, whose coalition includes small centre-right parties, has said his reform programme, entitled “Commitment 2014”, will focus on “economic revival”.
President Giorgio Napolitano, who appointed Mr Letta as prime minister, said a decision on the fate of the government was up to the PD.
One centrist MP in the coalition, Andrea Romano, told Italian TV he hoped the prime minister would show “generosity” and allow the PD leader the chance to govern.
But Renato Brunetta, a leading opposition politician with former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, complained on Wednesday that Italy was returning to an era of unstable government.
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