Maurizio Gasparri resigns as Forza Italia Senate leader following referendum defeat
Maurizio Gasparri resigned as Forza Italia’s group leader in the Senate, following the defeat of the Yes camp in the justice referendum.
Stefania Craxi has been appointed as the new leader of the Forza Italia group in the Senate following Maurizio Gasparri’s resignation.
Stefania Craxi will assume her new role as Forza Italia group leader in the Senate following Maurizio Gasparri’s resignation.
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Following the justice referendum defeat, Maurizio Gasparri’s resignation marks the fourth exit in three days, highlighting instability within the governing majority.
In the wake of these resignations, Stefania Craxi has been appointed as the new leader of Forza Italia in the Senate, succeeding Gasparri.
Opposition MP Angelo Bonelli has labelled the situation a ‘political crisis in the centre-right’, suggesting it necessitates a swift response from the centre-left regarding their future programme.
More resignations after referendum: Gasparri quits, Craxi leads Forza Italia in Senate
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Fresh upheaval in the ranks of the ruling majority. Less than 24 hours after the resignation of Daniela Santanchè as tourism minister, Maurizio Gasparri also left his post on Thursday, becoming the fourth to resign in just three days since the defeat of the Yes camp in the justice referendum.
Taking his place as Forza Italia (FI) group leader in the Senate will be Stefania Craxi, currently chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee.
‘To Stefania Craxi, the new chair of the Forza Italia group in the Senate, I extend my best wishes for her work,’ wrote shortly afterwards Forza Italia’s national secretary and foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, thanking Gasparri for his service in a post on X.
‘I have independently decided to step down as Forza Italia’s group leader in the Senate. Those whose long political journey is based on solidity and a sense of duty, and not only on the office they hold, know how to manage timing and procedure in complex moments. We move forward with consistency, looking to the future,’ Gasparri said.
Referendum defeat for the majority and a chain of resignations: opposition criticism
The defeat of the Yes camp in the justice referendum has triggered a chain reaction within the governing majority, which on the one hand appears keen to show it has heeded the strong signal from the ballot box, and on the other wants to avoid at all costs a crisis for the government.
In recent days, the undersecretary for justice (from Brothers of Italy) Andrea Delmastro Delle Vedove, whose business dealings with a front man for the Senese clan have sparked widespread controversy, and the chief of staff to the justice minister Carlo Nordio, Giusi Bartolozzi (FI), have also left their posts.
Commenting on Gasparri’s resignation, Green and Left Alliance MP Angelo Bonelli spoke of a ‘political crisis in the centre-right’, arguing that the resignations ‘of Bartolozzi, Delmastro, Santanchè and today Gasparri – and tomorrow who knows who – require an acceleration in defining the centre-left’s programme’.