Italy's tourism minister resigns under pressure from Meloni after referendum defeat

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MILAN (AP) — Italy ’s legally troubled tourism minister resigned on Wednesday in the fallout of Premier Giorgia Meloni’s failed referendum on judicial reforms.

The departure of Daniela Santanchè is a sign that Italy’s 3 1/2-year-old right-wing government has been weakened by Monday's ballot box defeat of a key measure.

Meloni had demanded Santanchè‘s resignation after two justice ministry officials stepped down in the wake of voters’ resounding rejection of judicial reforms in a vote that was widely seen as a de facto confidence test on Meloni's leadership. In a statement on Tuesday, Meloni said she hoped Santanchè would make a similar decision “in the same spirit of institutional sensitivity.”

Santanchè, who was seen as a key member of Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, has been politically damaged by multiple long-term trials and investigations, including alleged false accounting and alleged fraud. She has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

Despite her legal woes, Santanchè survived a no-confidence motion in 2023 and had long enjoyed Meloni’s support.

Santanchè announced her resignation in a statement to Meloni, in which she said she would “obey” Meloni’s wishes and acknowledged an abrupt interaction on Tuesday following the prime minister's resignation demand. She said she did not want to be made “a scapegoat” for the referendum defeat, underlining that the measure passed in her northern region of Lombardy and district.

“I won’t hide from you a degree of bitterness over how my ministerial journey has ended, but in my life I am accustomed to paying my own debts — and often those of others,’’ Santanchè wrote.

The judicial reforms had been billed by Meloni’s coalition as a key step toward streamlining Italy’s judicial system, which has been criticized as being slow, bureaucratic and vulnerable to political influence.

But critics argued that the proposed measures risked concentrating too much power in the executive branch. Opposition parties, civil society groups and legal associations mounted a unified front, warning that the reform could undermine institutional checks and balances.

The referendum defeat after a campaign so closely tied to the prime minister's leadership has raised questions about the stability and cohesion of Meloni’s governing coalition.