Prodi coalition hangs by thread after party quits

Italy’s centre-left government led by Romano Prodi was hanging by a thread on 21 January 2008 after a small Catholic party quit the prime minister’s coalition over a corruption inquiry.
Clemente Mastella, who resigned as Justice Minister the previous week after he and his wife and other party officials were told they were under judicial investigation, pulled his Udeur party out of the coalition, saying it had failed to support him.

BBC News, 22.1.08: Prodi to speak on cabinet crisis http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7201547.stm

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