Conte 'rare pearl' Italy cannot lose

(ANSA) - Rome, August 20 - Premier Giuseppe Conte is a "rare pearl" Italy cannot afford to lose, 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Luigi Di Maio said ahead of the premier's highly anticipated speech to the Senate on the government crisis Tuesday.
    Di Maio again castigated League leader Matteo Salvini for pulling the plug on the 14-month populist M5S-League government.
    "Dear Giuseppe today is an important day," he said.
    "The day in which the League will have to respond for its faults for having decided to bring everything tumbling down, opening a crisis in the middle of August, on the beach, only to cash in on the opinion polls.
    "Today in the Senate the M5S ministers will be at your side.
    We will present ourselves with out heads held high.
    "Whatever happens I wanted to tell you that it has been an honour to work together in this government.
    "You are a rare pearl, a servant of the Nation that Italy cannot afford to lose".