Standoff in Italy over choice of new economy minister

ROME — The political standoff in Italy continued on Saturday over President Sergio Mattarella’s refusal to approve the euroskeptic coalition’s choice for economy minister.

Three days after being appointed by Mattarella as prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, 53, has still not been able to form a government.

Writing on Facebook late on Friday, League chief Matteo Salvini, who insists on naming the noted euroskeptic Paolo Savona, 81, as economy minister, was blunt.

“I am really very angry,” he raged.

Salvini doubled down on Saturday, tweeting images of cartoons in German media lampooning Italy, writing: “The newspapers and German politicians insult us: Italian beggars, idlers, tax evaders, freeloaders and ungrateful.

“And we should choose an economy minister that suits them? No thanks!”

Salvini reiterated his position later on Saturday after a meeting with party leaders, saying “the League has already taken enough backward steps”.

He added that he would give Conte the list of ministers the League wants on Saturday night.

Salvini had nominated Conte for the premiership with the support of Five Star leader Luigi Di Maio, but officially it is the head of state and the premier alone who appoint ministers.

And according to the Italian media, Mattarella will not bend for two reasons: to avoid isolating Italy in Europe and to protect the role of the president.

Conte met the president late on Friday to report “informally” on the discussions, but without presenting his final list of ministers.

Far from convinced of Conte’s authority over the political heavyweights who will compose his team, Mattarella — elected by a parliament which at the time was dominated by the center-left — wants Italy to respect its European commitments.

As guarantor of internationaltreaties, Mattarella has been more discrete since the standoff began on Thursday.

But he was clear in denouncing the “unacceptability of diktats toward the prime minister and president” by political parties.

The Democratic Party of former premier Matteo Renzi, however, did not pull its punches.

“You are playing around at the expense of the country just to defend your miserable interests,” party leader Maurizio Martina said in remarks addressed to Salvini on Saturday.

You are playing around at the expense of the country just to defend your miserable interests.” Maurizio Martina, Italian

There was no meeting scheduled for Saturday between Conte and the leaders of the League and Five Star, nor was there any indication that a solution could be found over the weekend.

Conte did however receive the support of French President Emmanuel Macron during a phone call on Saturday.

Macron gave the new Italian premier his best wishes for forming a government and said he would like to meet soon, Conte said on Facebook.

The impasse has already started to make financial markets nervous, with the Milan Stock Exchange closing down 1.54 percent on Friday.