Delmastro Delle Vedove had also received a criminal conviction earlier in the legislature after leaking official secrets.
Justice Ministry chief of staff and former MP Giusi Bartolozzi is facing criminal charges over an alleged cover-up involving a Libyan warlord who was arrested last year on an International Criminal Court warrant and then flown out of Rome. During the campaign she called prosecutors “an execution squad,” reinforcing accusations that the government viewed investigations as political interference. Bartolozzi didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meloni also signaled she had lost confidence in Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè, who has been ordered to stand trial over alleged fraud linked to Covid-19 aid, and said in a statement that she “hoped” Santanchè would choose to resign. Santanchè didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Justice Minister Carlo Nordio, who authored the reform, took responsibility for the defeat but said on Tuesday he would not step down and instead would “return to his study and hobbies” after national elections expected next year.
Democratic Party leader Elly Schlein told the La7 TV channel that those who resigned were “easy scapegoats of a defeat that is all Giorgia Meloni’s.”
Carlo Calenda, leader of the centrist Azione party, said the resignations were “necessary, fitting and late.”
Senator Raffaella Paita of the centrist Italia Viva party called the resignations “a political earthquake in the government” and urged Meloni to explain herself in parliament. “The prime minister cannot have half the government resign to avoid resigning herself.”