This archive report was first published on 26 December 2019.
Italian Minister of Education Lorenzo Fioramonti's resignation on December 24, 2019, has dealt a significant blow to the coalition government formed by his Five Star Movement (M5S) and the centre-left Democratic Party just four months ago.
Fioramonti, who had taken on the portfolio to reverse the trend of underfunding Italian schools, higher education, and research, cited the government's failure to meet his demand for a minimum level of funding as the reason for his resignation.
He had specifically requested a 2020 budget of three billion euros ($3.3 billion) for education and research, but was only accorded two billion euros in the budget approved on Monday.
"It seems resources can never be found when it comes to schools and research, and yet hundreds of millions of euros are available within a few hours for other objectives when there is the political will," Fioramonti said in a Facebook post announcing his resignation.
His resignation is the latest in a series of dissensions within the coalition government, which has already seen M5S leader Luigi Di Maio, the foreign minister, come under harsh criticism within the party.
Di Maio's leadership has been questioned, with several lawmakers leaving to join the far-right, anti-immigrant League party led by Matteo Salvini.
Salvini, who broke up Italy's previous coalition government in August, is now calling for new elections, despite the League's decline in opinion polls.
