PM pick’s CV under scrutiny
he padded his official resume, which was submitted to the Italian parliament in 2013.
The 5-Star Movement, one of the populist forces that proposed the University of Florence professor without political experience as premier, offered a vigorous defence.
Conte ‘‘never boasted’’ of holding degrees from foreign universities, but ‘‘stayed abroad to study, enrich his knowledge and perfect his juridical English. For a professor of his level, the opposite would have been strange,’’ the movement said.
Cambridge declined to confirm an affiliation with Conte, citing privacy, and the Sorbonne did not immediately respond to queries.
The resume also says Conte studied at the International Kultur Institut in Vienna in 1993. No school responding to that name could be located in Vienna, but a language school called the Internationales Kulturinstitut declined to comment, citing privacy issues.
Conte’s CV further notes that he taught a course in European contract and banking law at the University of Malta during the summer of 1997.
The University of Malta said it had no record of Conte ‘‘ever forming part of the resident academic staff,’’ but added that ‘‘he may have been involved in lecturing duties during short courses organised in the summer of 1997’’ by a now-defunct foundation that worked with the university.
Analyst Wolfango Piccoli, cofounder of Teneo Intelligence, said he did not expect an exaggerated resume to necessarily affect Italian President Sergio Mattarella’s deliberations over whether to formally tap Conte to form a government. ‘‘Embellishing resumes is sport in Italy,’’ Piccoli said, adding that ‘‘only an academic would have a 12-page CV’’.
Political observers in Italy think a bigger issue for Conte is persuading the president he would have the independence to lead a coalition government composed of the 5-Stars and the anti-immigrant League, and not just be an executor of the populists’ wishes. – AP