The Wall Street Journal-20080117-Politics -amp- Economics- Scandal Threatens Italy-s Fragile Rule
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Politics & Economics: Scandal Threatens Italy's Fragile Rule
ROME -- The stability of Italy's fragile government has once again been thrown into doubt by the resignation of Justice Minister Clemente Mastella after his wife was placed under house arrest in a corruption probe.
Several hours after he announced his resignation, prosecutors communicated that Mr. Mastella was also a target of the probe into corruption in a regional hospital network.
The resignation puts a straightjacket on Prime Minister Romano Prodi, whose administration relies on a single-vote majority in the Senate. Though Mr. Prodi rejected the offer of resignation, Mr. Mastella has yet to signal whether he will stay on. If the minister's centrist party yanks its three-seat support in the Senate, the government could fall.
The events prompting Mr. Mastella's move illustrate a more serious problem undermining the Italian state: a justice system that lives in constant conflict with the politicians who are supposed to administer it.
Mr. Mastella and his wife, Sandra, who is head of the regional council for the southern area of Campania, were ensnared along with other local politicians in an investigation into corruption and kickbacks in the region's hospital system. The couple denied any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors allege that doctors in local hospitals were promoted based on their political connections rather than their medical merits.
Yet tensions between prosecutors and politicians have reached such extremes that the arrest was interpreted by much of Italy's political elite as a badge of honor, not shame.
Within hours, Mr. Mastella had received expressions of support from all corners, including from the head of the opposition, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who called the arrest an act of "unprecedented gravity." Other ministers of the Prodi government urged Mr. Mastella to remain in his post.
The investigations and convictions of politicians have become so commonplace that they barely resonate with voters. But the bruising battle between the legislative and judicial arms of government has weakened both.
Currently, 25 politicians among the 945 elected members of Italy's lower house and senate have been convicted of offenses ranging from Mafia association to tax evasion. Dozens more are either awaiting trial or currently under investigation.
