ROME — Italy’s political landscape experienced significant tremors on Wednesday as Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè tendered her resignation amidst mounting pressure from Premier Giorgia Meloni. This development follows the government’s stinging defeat in a crucial judicial reform referendum widely interpreted as a de facto confidence vote on Meloni’s leadership.
The minister’s departure represents the third high-profile resignation this week after two justice ministry officials stepped down. Santanchè, a prominent figure within Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, had been embroiled in multiple legal proceedings including allegations of false accounting and fraud, though she has consistently maintained her innocence.
In a carefully worded resignation statement addressed to Meloni, Santanchè expressed “a degree of bitterness” about her departure while pledging to “obey” the premier’s wishes. She notably resisted being made “a scapegoat” for the referendum defeat, highlighting that the measure had actually passed in her home region of Lombardy.
The rejected judicial reforms had been championed by Meloni’s coalition as essential for modernizing Italy’s notoriously slow and bureaucratic judicial system. However, opposition parties, legal associations, and civil society groups formed an unusual alliance, arguing the measures would dangerously concentrate power within the executive branch and undermine institutional checks and balances.
This political setback raises substantive questions about the stability and cohesion of Italy’s 3½-year-old right-wing government, suggesting potential vulnerabilities in Meloni’s previously firm grip on power.