Premier Giorgia Meloni said Saturday
that her government would not be weakened by the resignation of
Gennaro Sangiuliano as culture minister after he was embroiled
in a scandal over a would-be advisor he had an affair with.
Conservative journalist Alessandro Giuli, the president of
Rome's MAXXI contemporary art museum, was sworn in on Friday as
Sangiuliano's successor.
"If anyone thinks that situations like the Sangiuliano one can
weaken the government, they are mistaken," Meloni told the
European House-Ambrosetti (TEHA) Forum at Cernobbio on Lake Como
on Saturday.
"The king is dead - long live the king.
"A minister has resigned, I wish the new minister well for his
work".
Meloni thanked Sangiuliano for "significantly increasing
visitors and revenues for the many cultural attractions that
Italy has" and for launching "major projects that had been at a
standstill for decades".
She also took aim at the woman at the centre of the scandal,
influencer and businesswoman Maria Rosario Boccia, whose posts
saying she had become an advisor to Sangiuliano and photos with
him at official events triggered concerns she had access to
classified communications and her activities were being paid for
by public money - something Sangiuliano had ruled out.
"My idea of how a woman should earn herself a place in society
is diametrically opposed to that of this person," Meloni said.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
