Rome executive deserves chance-Speaker

(ANSA) - Rome, July 29 - Lower House Speaker Laura Boldrini said Wednesday that the new Rome city council executive presented by under-fire Mayor Ignazio Marino deserved a chance to prove that it can effectively govern the capital. "Ignazio Marino is in the middle of a difficult situation and he is making a big effort," Boldrini said. "I hope that the new executive can give responses to the demands that the public make. It's necessary to give this executive a chance. We all hope for a change for the city". Marino, a member of Premier Matteo renzi's centre-left Democratic Party (PD), promised the city will become cleaner, better organized, with improved transit and "urban regeneration" as he presented a revamped executive with four new faces on Tuesday. The mayor has been under intense pressure to quit in the wake of a massive probe into allegations a mafia organisation muscled in on city contracts worth millions, even though he is not personally implicated in the investigation. His position has also been hit by international media reports about the state of the Italian capital, bemoaning poor cleanliness and transport services, amid a work-to-rule by metro drivers that has caused major disruption.