Italy’s League Threatens to Bring Down Gov’t - 5-Star Movement Head

By Staff, Agencies

The Italian coalition suffered from one of its worst in-fighting scandals on 18 April when the League's undersecretary Armando Siri was put under investigation for corruption.

Italy’s League (Lega) party is threatening to bring down the government over a corruption scandal involving one of its senior politicians, a coalition partner, the 5-Star Movement has stated.

The 5-Star movement’s chief, Luigi Di Maio noted on Facebook that his group had blocked Siri from taking "controversial" measures in the past and asked the League to deal with the issue in a responsible manner.

"Even today the League is threatening to bring down the government… I'm really stunned", he added in a statement.    

Italy's deputy transport minister Armando Siri was earlier put under investigation in a corruption probe, becoming the latest political bone of contention in Italy's ruling coalition between the right-wing, anti-migrant party League and the populist 5-Star Movement.

In last March’s general election, Lega won over 17 percent of the vote and was able to form a coalition government with the 5-Star movement (M5S), who gained almost 33 percent of the vote. Lega's chief Matteo Salvini later became deputy prime minister and interior minister.