EU Lawmaker Calls Media Reports About Alleged Italian Gov't Crisis 'Manipulation'

Marco Zanni, a European Parliament member from Italy's Lega party, criticized media reports saying that the Italian coalition government was on the verge of collapse, calling such claims a "manipulation."

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th April, 2019) Marco Zanni, a European Parliament member from Italy's Lega party, criticized media reports saying that the Italian coalition government was on the verge of collapse, calling such claims a "manipulation."

The deputy prime minister of Italy and leader of Five Star Movement (M5S) party, Luigi Di Maio, said last week that his party's coalition partner, Lega, was trying to bring the government down. The statement came after an investigation was opened into Armando Siri, a Transport Ministry undersecretary and an adviser to deputy prime minister and Lega chief Matteo Salvini, on suspicion of graft. M5S has called for Siri to step down, but Salvini fired back saying that his party had never demanded that M5S politicians resign over investigations.

"The press - which is very much opposed to the 'populist parties' in government - is announcing every few days that the coalition in power in Italy, which is very popular in the population, is on the verge of exploding .

.. Anything goes, as long as it is negative news for the government. This is manipulation," Zanni told Sputnik.

He slammed media reports claiming that the Italian government was in "chaos" or that there were two governments in Rome as "ludicrous."

While the lawmaker admitted that the Italian economy was "barely growing," he stressed that most of Europe was facing the same problem because of the "wrong" EU policies in the eurozone.

"Because of Germany, we focus on an unsustainable socio-economic system and will sooner or later be presented with the bill," Zanni noted.

Salvini said in a statement published on Lega's official website that there was no government crisis, stressing that Lega wanted to govern "in the interest of all Italians," and "without wasting time fighting."