The threat of a new election could help to bring Mr Bertinotti to heel.
Nothing stops government supporters turning out to vote for Mr Bertinotti as a way of undermining Mr Prodi.
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And he can offer sops that Mr Bertinotti could dress up as victories.
Mr Bertinotti almost certainly would then be brought back into the fold.
Boosting public spending to reduce unemployment, as Mr Bertinotti wants to do, is not an option: euro rules, in effect, prohibit that idea.
If Mr Bertinotti misreads his own voters again, they might replace him with Armando Cossutta, who would be much friendlier to Mr Prodi.
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The office of Dominique Bertinotti, minister for family affairs in Hollande's Socialist government, confirmed the bill had been presented to and approved by ministers Wednesday morning.
Workers in heavy industry, the core of Mr Bertinotti's support, might get a 35-hour working week and be exempted from the tougher rules on early retirement.
Ominously, Mr Bertinotti declares himself entirely happy with the 280-page manifesto of the centre-left, which is a careful compromise between his views and those of others within the coalition.
But what is wrong with Italian politics is perhaps more serious: it allows people like Mr Berlusconi on the right and Fausto Bertinotti on the left to wield considerable power.
On that occasion, the government was brought down by none other than Mr Bertinotti, but so long as the centre-left sticks to its programme, he promises not to do it again.
Of course, were Italy to reform its electoral laws and its constitution, as Mr Prodi and many others would like, people like Mr Bertinotti would be shorn of most of their power.
This leaves Mr Prodi with two choices: to assume that Mr Bertinotti is bluffing and can be won over with a few mostly symbolic concessions, or to resign, bringing either a quick election or the formation of a new government under someone else.
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