Scandal-hit Rome mayor keeps job, but party demands reshuffle

DPA, 18th DECEMBER, 2016- Rome’s beleaguered mayor, Virginia Raggi, should keep her job, but at the price of dismissing some of her more controversial aides, her anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) decided overnight following a string of scandals.
Over the past week, Raggi’s    garbage commissioner Paola Muraro resigned after being placed under investigation for breaking waste management rules, and her right-hand man Raffaele Marra, head of personnel at city hall, was arrested for corruption. “Mistakes were made which Virginia has recognized: She trusted the most unsuitable people in the world. We are changing gear from today,” comedian and M5S leader Beppe Grillo wrote on his blog late on Saturday.
In another statement on the blog, Raggi said deputy mayor Daniele Frongia would step down but keep her post as commissioner for sport and youth, while the head of her secretariat, Salvatore Romeo, would quit. Both officials were seen as allies of Marra. The announcement came after 48 hours of crisis talks in Rome between Grillo and local and national M5S representatives, in which the option of kicking out or suspending Raggi from the party was discussed.