ROME -- The Italian Minister for Constitutional Reforms and Relations with Parliament, Maria Elena Boschi, is touring Latin America at the expense of taxpayers in order to promote the referendum campaign, ‘Il Fatto Quotidiano’ wrote Thursday.

 The Italian government has spent at least 12,625 euros of taxpayers’ money on this new part of its election campaign. Their latest ‘brainwave’ was to send Ms Boschi, the 36-year-old architect of the constitutional reform bill being voted on in the referendum, to tour Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay in promotion of the YES campaign -- inaugurating it on the other side of the world.

 On Wednesday the minister spoke to an audience of Italians in Argentina, saying “you can decide on whether to change your country voting in favour of the referendum, or whether to keep things as they are by voting NO.”

 On Thursday she travelled over to Uruguay then Brazil. According to the government, there are over1 million potential voters for YES in these countries.

 Boschi’s press office wrote -- “Contrary to what Il Fatto Quotidiano writes, the trip is an institutional mission. No initiatives exclusive to our party are on the program.”

 “Also contrary to other reports, the trip does not have a cost of 300,000 euros as it was not carried out with governmental flights -- the delegation of four people are flying just in economy class. The total cost is of 12,625 euros,” the office continued. This seems to be the cost of the flights alone, ‘Il Fatto Quotidiano’ speculated.

 The Five Star Movement in Italy is convinced that this “diplomatic affair” is just a fragile pretence. “She wants to suck in our fellow nationals,” said the MP Andrea Cecconi.

 The Lega Nord politician Roberto Calderoli charged that this is a panicked attempt “to fool the four million Italian citizens abroad who will have to send their postal votes three weeks before the referendum date.”

 “Let Renzi and Boschi do that if they want, but let them do it at their own expense or their party’s expense, but not with taxpayers’ money, who are made to pay the incontinental transfers for Boschi and all her ministerial staff,” Calderoli said. 

 nkd