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Who is Giuseppe Conte, the political novice now Italy’s populist PM?

Dubbed 'Mr Nobody', political novice Giuseppe Conte suddenly finds himself at the helm of one of the eurozone's largest economies, running a cabinet of far-right and anti-establishment ministers.

Published: 21 May 2018 14:40 CEST
Updated: 1 June 2018 12:04 CEST
Who is Giuseppe Conte, the political novice now Italy's populist PM?
Giuseppe Conte after his nomination as Italy's new premier. Photo: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP

The little-known academic, 53, was sworn in as prime minister on Friday, less than a week after walking away amid a row over a proposed eurosceptic economy minister.

The devout Catholic and former leftist formally took the reins after darting down from lessons at the University of Florence a day earlier for last-ditch talks, which propelled him into the hot seat. Conte had given up the mandate handed to him by President Sergio Mattarella days after being nominated to head a coalition of the far-right League Party and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S).

He bounced right back after the partners agreed to jettison controversial financier Paolo Savona as finance minister, Mattarella's demand that they find someone else briefly sparking calls for the head of state's impeachment.

On Saturday, he will stand alongside Mattarella for Republic Day celebrations in Rome before jetting off to the G7 in Canada. 

READ ALSO: Italy swears in first fully populist government

Born in 1964 in the tiny village of Volturara Appula in the southern region of Puglia, 53-year-old Conte joined the anti-establishment Five Star Movement after reportedly turning his back on the country's left.

“I used to vote left. Today, I think that the ideologies of the 20th century are no longer adequate,” Conte has been quoted as saying by Italian media.

A friend told state radio broadcaster Radio 1 that Conte is “very religious” and devoted to mystic Catholic saint Padre Pio, who lived in Puglia. The saint was famous for exhibiting “stigmata” – marks on his body supposedly matching the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ.

Who's boss?

Some analysts said Conte was likely to serve at the command of the leaders of the two groups forming the new government. They said M5S leader Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini of the anti-immigrant League would call the shots. Both appointed to key ministerial posts within the new cabinet, Salvini and Di Maio will also serve as jointy deputy PMs.

“I think that he'll have to respond to what they want, do what they decide,” Gianfranco Pasquino, political science professor at the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna, told AFP.

“It doesn't seem that he has political experience so he will be forced to carry out the preferences of Di Maio and Salvini.”

The Italian press has raised concerns over Conte's credibility as premier on the international scene. Left-wing newspaper La Repubblica branded him “a prime minister who will not count” in an editorial on Monday.

“What authority will he have when he goes to meet Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron?” it asked.

CV or not CV?

Di Maio had initially presented Conte as part of his team of ministers ahead of the March 4th general election. 

That was the general public's first glimpse of the discreet lawyer. He stayed out of sight in the talks between Five Star and the League to form an alliance after the inconclusive election.


Giuseppe Conte with Luigi Di Maio, leader of the Five Star Movement. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

After the parties nominated him, the media uncovered snippets of information about the likely future prime minister. He is reportedly separated from his wife with whom he has a 10-year-old son. Conte currently teaches private law at the University of Florence and at Rome's Luiss University.

In a CV posted on the website of a lawyers' association, Conte boasted of an impressive career in law and academia. His claims of study positions at some of the world's most prestigious universities were cast into doubt, however.

New York University (NYU) and the Sorbonne's law school told AFP they had no record of him as a student or faculty member. NYU said that he was granted permission to conduct research in its law library between 2008 and 2014. Cambridge University declined to give details about Conte.

Another of the institutions where he claims to have “furthered his juridical studies” was Vienna's Internationales Kulturinstitut – a language school.

Conte has yet to speak out publicly about the CV affair, but Di Maio and League chief Matteo Salvini staunchly defended him.

Media reported that his WhatsApp account displays a quote attributed to former US President John F. Kennedy: “Every success begins with the willingness to try.” 

READ ALSO:

By Ljubomir Milasin

MIGRANT CRISIS

Charity warns Italy’s ban on migrant rescue planes risks lives

A migrant rescue charity warned on Thursday that a new Italian ban on using surveillance planes to spot migrant boats in distress in the Mediterranean could endanger lives.

Published: 9 May 2024 15:14 CEST
Charity warns Italy's ban on migrant rescue planes risks lives

Italy’s civil aviation authority Enac issued orders in the past week saying charities will have their planes seized if they carry out “search and rescue” activities from airports in Sicily.

The move follows restrictions placed by far-right premier Giorgia Meloni’s government on charity rescue ships as it attempts to fulfil its election pledges to curb arrivals, which soared to around 158,000 last year.

Nearly 2,500 people are known to have died in 2023 trying to cross the central Mediterranean, a 75 percent increase on the previous year, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM).

READ ALSO: What’s behind Italy’s soaring number of migrant arrivals?

“This is definitely another attempt to criminalise search and rescue,” Giulia Messmer, spokesperson for the German charity Sea Watch, told AFP.

Sea Watch has two planes, the Seabird 1 and 2, but if they “are not able to fly anymore”, the planes “cannot communicate spotted distress cases” to authorities and ships able to carry out rescues, she said.

Enac says it is up to the coastguard, not charities, to perform search and rescue operations. The ban applies to the airports of Palermo and Trapani in Sicily, as well as the islands of Lampedusa and Pantelleria.

IN NUMBERS: Five graphs to understand migration to Italy

The IOM told AFP that while it was “waiting to understand its actual implementation, we are concerned that this decision may hinder life-saving efforts”.

Sea Watch warned the planes do not only play a vital role in spotting boats at risk of sinking, they also document the behaviour of the Libyan coastguard, often accused of violence towards migrants.

‘Political propaganda’

Immigration lawyer Fulvio Vassallo Paleologo told AFP the order issued by Enac was based on “a partial and contradictory reconstruction of national and international laws governing search and rescues”.

It was a political move, “a warning, during the election campaign” for the European Elections, he said.

Sea Watch on Twitter also called the move “an act of cowardice and cynicism… for political propaganda”.

Enac answers to Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, head of the anti-immigrant League party.

READ ALSO: ‘More will drown’: Italy accused of breaking international law on migrant rescues

Messmer, 28, said the Seabird 2 flew on Wednesday from Lampedusa despite the ban and the charity “plans to continue flying in the coming days”.

There were no issues getting the necessary authorisation from the airport to take off and land, she said.

Meloni, leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, was elected to office in 2022 promising to stop migrant boats arriving from North Africa.

Her government has brought in a law obliging charity ships to stage only one rescue at a time and they are often assigned ports in Italy’s distant north, making missions longer and more expensive.

Rome has also signed a controversial deal with Albania by which migrants from countries considered to be safe will be intercepted at sea and taken straight to Italian-run centres in Albania.

Critics say the deal is expensive and will prove ineffective because the two centres will only be able to hold a maximum of 3,000 people at a time and asylum applications are notorious slow.

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