Conte forms unity government, unveils cabinet
ROME: Italy’s new coalition government will be sworn in on Thursday, drawing a line under a crisis sparked by the far right with a more moderate and pro-european line-up.
Incoming Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte presented his cabinet ater hammering out a deal between former foes from the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the centre-let Democratic Party.
He said it would work with “intense passion” to revive spirits in Italy, which is plagued with high debt, high unemployment and widespread dissatisfaction over immigration and the country’s rapport with Brussels.
Cabinets members will take the oath at 10am (0800 GMT), ushering in a new political era ater the collapse of the populist coalition in August.
Luigi Di Maio, head of the Five Star Movement (M5S), will be foreign minister, while Roberto Gualtieri from the centre-let Democratic Party (PD) has been given the finance post in the eurozone’s third largest economy.
At just 33 years old, Di Maio will be the youngest foreign minister in Italy’s history.
The 21-member cabinet will have seven women ministers.
Gualtieri, who has chaired the European Parliament’s commitee on economic and monetary affairs for the past five years, will have to move fast to deal with Italy’s most pressing issue — the upcoming budget.
Conte gave the interior portfolio to Luciana Lamorgese, a former Milan security chief, while Lorenzo Guerini, former head of the parliamentary intelligence services oversight commitee COPASIR, will be defence minister.
The M5S and PD agreed to put aside their differences to prevent the country heading to the polls ater strongman Mateo Salvini pulled his far-right League from government last month while MPS were mostly at the beach.
The new coalition will have to be approved by both houses of parliament, possibly by the end of the week, to ensure it has a majority. The small let-wing Free and Equals party is expected to offer its support.
Conte — who had been a compromise prime minister for the League-m5s coalition — will continue in the top job. Italian markets have welcomed the new government, with Milan’s FTSE Mib up nearly 1.7 percent ater the announcement.
The spread between Italy’s bond yields and those of rock-solid Germany also narrowed to 146 from 158, indicating investor confidence over the political outlook.