Italy's Minister of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry, Nunzia De Girolamo, said she would resign after being accused of abuse of authority and corruption.
According to some sources, De Girolamo used her post as minister for personal purposes, appointing various positions in the ministry of his people. This information was also confirmed by the EU Agricultural Funds Research Commission.
Di Girolamo was part of the coalition government of Enrico Letta (Enrico Letta) from the party of the Deputy Prime Minister, Angelino Alfano (Angelino Alfano). Politician Girolamo began her journey many years ago when she assumed the position of regional coordinator in the city of Benevento from the party Go Forward, Italy (Forza Italia)led by the country's former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi.
According to De Girolamo, she made such a decision "in order to protect her dignity, which is the most important thing in her life and to preserve which she seeks by any means."
The former head of the ministry also added that she is leaving not only her post, but also from the government in general, since the latter is simply can't protect her.
At the very beginning of 2014, a number of parliamentarians charged De Girolamo with abuse of power, as well as with a series of financial frauds that the Minister of Agriculture “carried out” as a regional coordinator. Then De Girolamo acted as a patron for several sanitary organizations, and also sought to allocate additional funds for the clinic, in which her relatives worked.
In the Italian government, this behavior of De Girolamo was immediately criticized. Her actions simply considered unworthy of the Minister of Italy.
Parliamentarians insisted that the politician resign. De Girolamo was summoned to the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, where she shared her own vision of the unpleasant situation in which she landed. Minister of Agriculture assured her fell victim to a carefully planned conspiracy, the purpose of which was her dismissal from her post. However, many politicians continued to insist on her resignation, so De Girolamo had no choice but to vacate the minister’s chair.
De Girolamo’s decision caused a mixed reaction in the government.
Many politicians said that the former Minister of Agriculture got what she deserved, while there were those who regretted that De Girolamo’s departure was not really justified. For example, the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Maurizio Lupi, said: “I respect this broad gesture of Nuncio. She always was a passionate and disinterested politicianstriving to build a better future for the country. ”
The Italian media suggest that after the resignation, De Girolamo will succumb to the party of Berlusconi, from whose ranks she left when Letta took over as prime minister of the country. Meanwhile, the commission, which discovered the financial fraud of De Girolamo, continues its investigation into the use of funds that the Italian government allocated to the agricultural sector from 2007 to 2013.
According to experts, during this time the ministry received more than 12 billion euros.
De Girolamo is not the first minister in two months to have announced his resignation. Earlier, she, as well as four other ministers from the Forward Italy party, expressed a desire to leave their seats in disagreement with government policies. However, then the current Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, refused to accept their resignation.
