Italy's transport minister has refused to take the blame for traffic chaos which has caused misery for hundreds of people stuck on snow-blocked motorways, and has told people to stop complaining.
| "Wudn't me. Now shuddup!" |
Some people were trapped for days as an unusually strong snowfall brought parts of southern Italy to a standstill. The opposition accused Transport Minister Pietro Lunardi of failing to deal with the problem and called on him to resign. Lunardi rejected such calls on Sunday and said Italians should stop complaining and blaming the state. "We need to cure the Italians of their childish illness -- moaning," he told Libero newspaper.
| Yeah. That'll happen. Vespasian used to say the same thing. |
"The state cannot prevent exceptional snowfalls, even if Italy is the country of the sun and people think they have the right to have the snow melted immediately by the authorities." Although Deputy Prime Minister Marco Follini apologised on Friday on behalf of the government, Lunardi said he would not say sorry. "I am not apologising. The government has managed the emergency well, there have been no victims." By Sunday, the authorities finally reopened a major motorway between Salerno and Reggio Calabria which had been blocked for four days as snow continued to fall. |