DPA/Reuters
The new Italian government led by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has lost one of its cabinet ministers within days of his appointment, with Antonio Gentile handing in his resignation amid allegations of intimidating the press.
Gentile, who was named undersecretary for transport only last week, resigned from office late on Monday after rejecting charges that one of his associates had stopped a local newspaper from publishing a story about a corruption investigation into Gentile’s son.
Gentile was accused of pressuring the local newspaper L’Ora di Calabria not to publish an article that implicated his son, a manager in the local health authority, in a scandal over consultancy payments.
The editor of the newspaper refused the request but the publication never appeared on newsstands on February 19 because the daily’s press suffered a technical problem the night the edition was being printed.
Its editor said that the failure to publish came after Gentile’s associate put pressure on the owner of the printing press, while the printers blamed the incident on a technical fault.
Gentile is a member of the New Centre Right party led by Interior Minister Angelino Alfano.
The opposition Five-Star Movement was preparing a no-confidence vote against the junior minister, which could attract support from members of Renzi’s centre-left Democratic Party.
Italian media were speculating yesterday that Alfano may have agreed to Gentile’s ouster in return for Renzi delaying electoral reform previously agreed with centre-right opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi.
Berlusconi wants to push through the reform, as it would clear the way for early elections which his coalition would have a good chance of winning.
Alfano, who broke ranks with Berlusconi last year, is keen to keep his position in government.
In itself, the resignation of one undersecretary is unlikely to have any impact on Renzi’s ability to govern but it underlined the complex challenges facing his broad coalition as he prepares to launch potentially painful economic reforms.
A powerful local party boss from the southern region of Calabria, Gentile was under no formal investigation and consistently denied any wrongdoing.
In an open letter announcing his resignation, he said that he was stepping down only “as a demonstration of the correctness of my behaviour”.