Naples prepares for cabinet meeting

| Tue, 05/13/2008 - 03:52

Government officials were set to weigh up the merits of venues in Naples on Tuesday as Silvio Berlusconi stuck to an election promise to hold his new cabinet's first formal meeting in the trash-hit city.

Currently earmarked as the front-runner for the cabinet meeting is the Hercules Room inside the city's Palazzo Reale.

Constructed in the mid-17th century, the room is decorated with mythology-themed tapestries and was used in the 19th century as the banquet room of the royal apartment.

The Naples Prefecture building is also in the running for the cabinet meeting, which will probably be held on May 22 or 23.

While in Naples, the ministers are scheduled to address the ongoing trash crisis that has plagued the Campania region since January following a collapse in the rubbish collection system.

Despite drafting in the army to clear the streets, reopening old dumps and moving containers of waste out of Campania by ship and train, an estimated 30,000 tonnes of rubbish still line the region's streets.

Last week the European Commission said it will bring Italy before the European Court of Justice for violating the EU's Waste Framework Directive.

Silvio Berlusconi's fourth government was sworn in last Thursday by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.

The new cabinet met immediately in a semi-formal capacity to appoint long-time Berlusconi aide Gianni Letta as cabinet secretary.

The ministers were set to meet again on Monday to appoint their undersecretaries.

On Tuesday the government will go to the Lower House for a confidence vote, and do the same the next day in the Senate.

The government has comfortable majorities in both chambers.

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