Eni now not only faces the prospect of ceding part of its 18.5% stake in the project to the Kazakh government, through the state-controlled Kazmunaigaz, there's the chance of a breakdown in relations with its fellow group members and the loss of its coveted position as operational leader.
Leader of the Social-democrat group Martin Schultz said the breakdown in talks were "turning democracy on its head", saying it was not for national governments to block the will of parliament.
The breakdown of relations was addressed at a meeting of the South American regional group Unasur (Union of South American Nations) on Thursday in Ecuador, but the foreign ministers gathered there were unable to resolve the crisis.
Perhaps the closest anyone has come to studying directly the breakdown of overall spending by men and women is a 2008 survey conducted by the Boston Consulting Group.
The Marriage Foundation, a campaign group which champions marriage, said the statistics were symptomatic of an "appalling epidemic of family breakdown".
Thousands of vulnerable people facing family breakdown could end up without legal representation because of planned changes to legal aid, according to a legal group.