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Giuseppe Conte promises to unveil Italy’s new cabinet by Wednesday

Italy's premier-designate Giuseppe Conte said on Sunday he intended to present his new coalition cabinet by Wednesday at the latest, as he races to resolve the political crisis in the eurozone's third largest economy.

Giuseppe Conte promises to unveil Italy's new cabinet by Wednesday
Giuseppe Conte arrives for talks at the presidential palace. Photo: Quirinale Press Office/AFP

“At the start of next week — not Monday, but Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest — we need to be able to finish” negotiations between the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the centre-left Democratic Party, he said.

At that point Conte will present his cabinet line-up and government programme to Italy's President Sergio Mattarella. Conte and his new ministers would then be expected to be sworn in on Thursday, before facing a parliament vote on Friday.

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After public spats between the parties — who until recently were sworn enemies — there was now a “good working atmosphere”, Conte told the Fatto Quotidiano daily via video link.

The Five Star Movement (M5S) and Democratic Party (PD) have agreed to form a new coalition to stave off new elections after hardline Matteo Salvini, head of the hard-right League, pulled the plug on the government earlier this month.

Tensions remain, however. There have been persistent reports that M5S head Luigi Di Maio has threatened to pull out of the deal should he not get the deputy prime minister job. Conte said Sunday he was concentrated on policies rather than posts, while the PD suggested the deputy prime minister post should be scrapped to take it out of the equation.

Di Maio loyalists accused the centre-left of trying to cut their leader off at the knees. But on Saturday, the M5S chief was given a rare public ticking off by the Movement's founder, comic Beppe Grillo. In a video on his blog, he said he was “exhausted” by the talk of who-gets-what and the M5S's insistence that its 20-point plan be respected by the PD. 

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Five Star leader Luigi Di Maio arrives for talks at the Quirinal presidential palace in Rome on August 28. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP

'Extraordinary moment of change'

Grillo lamented “this agonising… this lack of humour, of fun, of exhilaration”, urging the parties in a video on his blog to “sit down at a table and be elated because [you] belong to this extraordinary moment of change”.

Conte said he “shared” Grillo's feelings, while PD leader Nicola Zingaretti agreed, saying “let's change everything, and respect one another”.

As far as the cabinet posts go, Conte said he would invite the M5S and PD to give him suggestions — rather than make demands — “so I can choose the best team”. He insisted the coalition would have a “single shared programme” where it would be difficult to distinguish which measures were championed by which party — a bipolarity which plagued the outgoing League-M5S coalition.

PROFILE: Italy's PM Conte, the 'Mr Nobody' who found his voice

Conte, a softly-spoken lawyer who was chosen as a compromise pick for prime minister after last year's general election, also denied he was the Movement's man, insisting he was neutral.

“I am not a member of the Five Star Movement, I do not participate in meetings of the leadership group, I have never met the parliamentary groups, to call me M5S seems inappropriate to me,” he said. However, he admitted “I am close to them, I have known them a long time, I work well with the M5S”.

When he addressed the nation as premier-designate on Thursday, Conte conspicuously avoided mentioning a hot-button issue that could still see the deal collapse: migration.

The M5S has said it has no regrets about its work done with Salvini, including a controversial anti-immigrant law targeting charity ships that save migrants in the Mediterranean. The PD however, has become increasingly vocal about wanting it altered or scrapped. It has cited the plight of the Italian Mare Jonio rescue ship, currently stuck at sea after Salvini banned it from entering national waters.

“The Mare Jonio case confirms we need to change everything on immigration in Italy,” Zingaretti tweeted on Sunday. 

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TERRORISM

Italy on maximum terror alert over Easter after Moscow attack

Italy was to increase surveillance in busy areas ahead of the Easter holidays and following the bombing of a Moscow concert hall, ministers agreed on Monday.

Italy on maximum terror alert over Easter after Moscow attack

Italy’s national committee for public security, chaired by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, on Monday said anti-terrorism monitoring in Italy must be strengthened ahead of the Easter holidays, with more surveillance to be carried out at popular tourist spots and at “sensitive sites”.

The committee agreed on “the importance of continuing monitoring activity, including online, by police and intelligence forces for the identification of possible risk situations” in Italy, reported news agency Ansa.

The security meeting was convened following the terrorist attack in Moscow on Friday where armed men opened fire and set the building ablaze, killing at least 133 people.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani had stressed to the public on Sunday that Italy faced “no concrete risk” and said the country’s security and law enforcement services were “always on the alert to prevent any attack.”

“During the Easter holidays you will need to be very careful. We will always do the utmost to ensure the safety of citizens and tourists,” Tajani said, speaking on national broadcaster Rai’s current affairs show Restart.

READ ALSO: Terror alerts: Should I be worried about travelling to Italy?

The fight against terrorism “has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine,” the minister continued.

“We support Ukraine” as an invaded country in which international law has been violated, he said, “but as the Italian government we have expressed our condemnation of the attack [in Moscow] and closeness to the families of the victims and the survivors”.

Cabinet Secretary Alfredo Mantovano said on the same programme that the main terrorist threat Italy faced at the moment was mainly from “lone wolves” and “not so much from organised groups.”

“I believe that a group like the one that acted in the Moscow attack, which must have been trained and had logistical support, would be intercepted sooner in Italy,” he said.

“The most worrying threat” in Italy was online recruitment, he said, noting that propaganda was closely monitored.

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