Education Minister Lorenzo
Fioramonti quit in a Christmas letter to Premier Giuseppe Conte,
throwing the ruling anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S)
into fresh chaos.
Fioramonti said he was quitting over alleged under-funding of
the education sector in the 2020 budget.
He said he had asked for three billion euros to be earmarked,
but only two had been set aside.
"One billion euros of funding is missing for a sector that
trains the Italians of the future," he said.
"In this way Italy is losing in the world," he said,
referring to a brain drain of young people.
Fioramonti said Friday he was "amazed" by criticism from the
M5S leadership, which is headed by Foreign Minister Luigi Di
Maio.
"I'm amazed that many voices from the leadership of the M5S
are attacking me," he said.
"And for what? For having only done what I have always said
(I would do)".
Soime Italian media said Fioramonti, an economics lecturer at
the University of Pretoria, might set up his own parliamentary
group.
The M5S has recently been hit by a rash of defections.
Di Maio's leadership has come under increasing pressure.
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