No vote, like it was in the air at the vigil, but two hours of discussion: the Council of Ministers ended with the decision, personally taken by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte who justified the choice in front of the ministers (mostly 5 Stars), to remove Northern League undersecretary for infrastructure Armando Siri from the Executive, investigated for corruption and ended up in controversy also for an unclear real estate transaction in Bresso, which is being investigated by the Milan prosecutor's office. "I am very proud of the decision we made today - said the deputy premier Luigi Di Maio in the conference -: it was a relaxed advice, we said to each other that we have many things to do for the Italians and that we will go together for four years". Di Maio also relaunched the minimum wage proposal, without however taking away space from the flat tax wanted by the League. “We will all work together on this, convening a government table soon”.
The League for its part tried to defend Siri until the last minute. "I will devote the necessary time to the Council of Ministers to do whatever is needed, but the most important stage of my day will be the meeting with drug rehabilitation communities", said the other deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini before entering a CDM that seemed like a real showdown within the government. “There's not even solid proof of Siri, but telephone chats of third parties involving other people and I ask for something more about this". Even Salvini, however, ruled out a government crisis, confirming his trust in Prime Minister Conte just a few weeks after the European vote, which could mark another turning point in the balance of an executive that is experiencing days of great tension.
The clash was therefore avoided but, despite the relaxing official declarations after the high voltage of the last few days, it has only been temporarily postponed. In fact, according to the rumors that run, Matteo Salvini would have a ready reply: tug of war on the flat tax and possible elections in the autumn.
