Rome, Sunday
ITALIAN Prime Minister Giuliano Amato reshuffled three key Cabinet
posts today as he struggled to keep his government afloat after a series
of bribery scandals that has decimated the Italian political class.
The reshuffle, after four hours of argument among Ministers on how to
prop up the eight-month-old Government, was a rapid response to the
turmoil created by the resignation of the Finance and Health Ministers
on Friday.
Socialist Franco Reviglio, previously Budget Minister, was made
Finance Ministerat a special Cabinet meeting. Veteran Christian Democrat
Beniamino Andreatta will take over Reviglio's old job.
Amato hurried from his office to the nearby Quirinale palace to
present his plans to President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, who later signed
decrees approving the nominations.
Amato has kept his word about having the Government back to strength
before the markets open tomorrow.
Friday's resignation of Finance Minister Giovanni Goria and Health
Minister Francesco De Lorenzo, both tainted by corruption scandals,
hammered the lira on foreign exchanges.
The Government, like most before it, is based on an uneasy alliance
between Christian Democrats and Socialists. It has a majority of only 16
in the 630-seat lower house, but Amato is expected to call a fresh
confidence vote in the next few days to prove he still has parliamentary
approval.
Amato's Socialist Party is the focus of a public works corruption
inquiry centred on Milan, the country's financial hub.
The scandal has forced former Prime Minister and Amato supporter
Bettino Craxi to resign as head of the party, and cost Socialist Justice
Minister Claudio Martelli his job two weeks ago.
The reshuffle came under almost immediate fire from former president
Francesco Cossiga, who branded the new administration as a Government of
national hypocrisy.
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