GENOA: Italy’s populist ruling coalition showed a united front on Friday in its push to revoke concessions held by Autostrade per l’Italia to operate toll highways after a bridge it managed collapsed this week, killing at least 38 people.

On Thursday, some coalition members said that less drastic measures, such as a fine, may be considered, but a day later the leaders of both ruling parties vowed tougher action.

“They (newspapers) wrote the government is putting on the brakes,” Luigi Di Maio, head of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and deputy prime minister, said on Facebook. “That’s false. The government is accelerating and it will revoke the concessions.” Matteo Salvini, head of the far-right League party and also a deputy prime minister, later said there was “no division” in the government on the issue, but added that the procedure would take “weeks or months”.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2018