Italian finance minister quits
The move, which leaves the government without a finance chief days before the presentation of the budget, came less than a month after Mr Siniscalco first called for Mr Fazio to go. He said evidence that the banker had favoured an Italian bank over a foreign lender in a takeover fight was "devastating" to Italy's credibility. The case led the ECB and the European Commission to scrutinise Mr Fazio's oversight of the Italian banking market.
The departure of Mr Siniscalco, a political independent, may make the four parties in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's coalition less willing to deliver on pledges to cut over €10 billion from the deficit.
