‘Novice’ to head Italy’s Eurosceptic regime

ITALY is set to be ruled by the first openly Eurosceptic government in the EU after a political novice was last night named Prime Minister.

After weeks of stalemate, legal professor Giuseppe Conte, 54, said he would be ‘the defence lawyer of the Italian people’ and will now seek to establish a radical coalition. His selection to lead the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and far-Right League party has sent ripples of panic across the EU and caused financial jitters. The parties have promised to overhaul the country’s relationship with the bloc. It comes despite accusations that large parts of Mr Conte’s CV had been embellished.

But the country’s president Segio Mattarella, who is ultimately responsible for authorising a new government, last night gave his seal of approval.