Ex- minister Mastella pulls key support - The government of Premier Romano Prodi appeared to be on the brink of collapsing on Monday after former justice minister Clemente Mastella said his small Udeur Catholic party would no longer support the executive.
Without the Udeur's three senators, Prodi does not have a majority in the Senate.
''If there is a confidence vote we will vote against the government. This center-left experience is over,'' he added.
''I thank Prodi for the splendid and prestigious post he gave me as minister, even if it was at times dramatic. While my personal relationship with him will remain, I have sent him a letter to inform him that this political center-left experience is closed,'' Mastella said.
''We are in favor of elections. The decision is not up to us, but we are for voting,'' the former minister added. ''Today I claim back by my independence as a man, as a politician and as a citizen. I don't deal and I won't negotiate. There comes a time when one says enough is enough,'' Mastella said. Mastella resigned last week after his wife, Sandra Lonardo, was placed under house arrest for allegedly peddling political favors. It was later learned that the minister was also under investigation on the same charges.
Lonardo is speaker of the Campania regional assembly.
He said at the time that his party would no longer be part of Prodi's administration but would continue to provide crucial support in parliament.
Since then, Mastella said he had been the victim of a ''media lynching'' and a campaign of political intimidation. For this reason ''I intend to work for a government and a majority which is capable of making justice once again a legal and formal way to govern relations between men and not some kind of media show'', he said.
The ex-justice minister first announced his resignation in parliament last Monday where he made a scathing attack against ''certain sectors'' of the judiciary which he accused of plotting against him because of his efforts to reform the judiciary.
He described the accusations against his wife as ''stupid'' and called the measure calling for her house arrest a ''violent and unjust attack'' by ''extremist fringes'' in the judiciary.
