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Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Wednesday sacked a graft-tainted junior minister close to far-right leader Matteo Salvini, averting a government crisis weeks ahead of European elections. «There was a very frank and uncommon cabinet discussion..Italy avoids crisis by sacking far-right minister
Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Wednesday sacked a graft-tainted junior minister close to far-right leader Matteo Salvini, averting a government crisis weeks ahead of European elections. «There was a very frank and uncommon cabinet discussion... but without citizens' trust, it would be hard to keep being the government of change,» Conte told journalists. Infrastructure and transport undersecretary Armando Siri, a member of coalition partner the League, is alleged to have accepted a 30,000-euro ($33,000) bribe -- or the promise of it -- from a businessman for promoting the interests of renewable energy companies. Prosecutors also suspect the businessman of being in league with a Sicilian who has links to a Mafia boss. «Not because he's guilty but simply because for us, if a corruption and Mafia investigation is mentioned, (then) the political world must react before the judges do,» said co-deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio, who heads the Five Star Movement (M5S). The M5S, which made «honesty» a keyword of its political campaign before being elected last year, had demanded Siri resign. Salvini, who is head of the anti-immigrant League party and deputy prime minister,... Read more











