PM pick’s CV under scrutiny
A law professor put forward as Italy’s next premier faced suspicions yesterday that he overstated his academic credentials, including referring in his resume to seven summers of studies at New York University that turned out to involve only having library privileges there.
The 12-page resume covering the years since Guiseppe Conte earned his law degree from Rome’s Sapienza University in 1988 includes entries for time spent at an array of top universities in the United States, Britain and France, without specifying the courses or areas of research he undertook.
The curriculum vitae states that Conte, 53, ‘‘stayed’’ at Paris Sorbonne University in 2000 and Cambridge University’s Girton College in 2001 for scientific research. The resume also states he ‘‘perfected and updated his studies’’ at New York University during the summers of 2008-2014.
In a statement yesterday, New York University said records showed that Conte had ‘‘no official status’’ at the school, but ‘‘was granted permission to conduct research in the NYU Law library’’ during the years listed on his resume.
University spokeswoman Michelle Tsai added that Conte also ‘‘invited an NYU Law professor to serve on the board of an Italian law journal’’.
Conte did not respond to the speculation 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
‘‘Embellishing resumes is sport in Italy.’’
analyst Wolfango Piccoli, co-founder of Teneo Intelligence