Durigon quits over Mussolini brother proposal

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 27 - Economy Undersecretary Claudio Durigon quit Thursday night after a 10-day-long hail of criticism following the nationalist League MP's call for a park in his home city, Latina, to be renamed after Arnaldo Mussolini, the brother of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.
    The park in the city founded by Mussolini after he drained the Pontine Marshes was previously named after Arnaldo Mussolini but is currently named after Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, two anti-mafia prosecuting magistrates who were murdered by Cosa Nostra in 1992.
    In his resignation statement, the Latina-born MP said "I've never been a Fascist but I'm sorry".
    He apologised to victims of the mafia and their relatives.
    The centre-left Democratic Party had led the calls for Durgon to go saying apology of Fascism was banned by the Italian Constitution.
    Reports have also suggested Premier Mario Draghi exerted moral suasion over Durigon's party boss, League leader Matteo Salvini.
    Salvini said Durigon "is laving his post out of love for Italy and the League, and not to slow down the action of the government".
    Durigon, who turns 50 next month, had been the architect of the League's flagship 'quota 100' early retirement scheme, for which Salvini reiterated his praise. (ANSA).