Meloni defends government after Italian culture minister quits over scandal

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her government had not been weakened by a controversy over a consultancy role offered to the former lover of a minister who resigned after a tearful televised apology.

Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano, 62, quit on Friday after being embroiled in a scandal which has dominated front pages and become an embarrassment for the government.

"If someone thinks that situations such as these could be a way to weaken the government, I am afraid that's not the case," Meloni said when asked to comment on the situation at a business forum in Cernobbio.

Praising Sangiuliano's work over the past two years, she said she had followed the events "like other women" have.

Meloni added: "And I must say that my idea of how a woman earns a role in society is the complete opposite."

Sangiuliano had faced a media storm over the role of Maria Rosaria Boccia, a self-proclaimed fashion entrepreneur who last week posted on Instagram that she had been nominated "Advisor to the minister for major events".

Meloni—who had initially rejected Sangiuliano's offer to resign—also criticised Italian media for disproportionately focusing on the events over the past two weeks.

"I eventually accepted Sangiuliano's resignation to spare the government from such media pressure," she said. "A minister has quit. Let's welcome the new minister."

Sangiuliano resigned on Friday, and he was replaced shortly after by Alessandro Giuli, head of the MAXXI contemporary arts museum in Rome.

It was the first change in Meloni's right-wing coalition government, which currently chairs the G7 forum of leading democracies. Over the past two years, it has looked solid, with high popularity ratings and a divided opposition.

Sangiuliano was politically close to Meloni but not a member of her party. He was also gaffe-prone, saying, for example, at an awards ceremony that he would "try to read" the books that, as a juror, he was supposed to have already read.

Italy's European Affairs Minister Raffaele Fitto is set to leave his cabinet post after being nominated for a role in the European Commission, but his appointment needs to be confirmed by the European Parliament.

"As Italy's national recovery plan has been in good hands with Raffaele Fitto, I have no doubt that it will be in good hands also in the coming years," Meloni said, referring to the imminent appointment of a new minister to manage EU funds.