Italy swears in its new pro-European coalition government

President Sergio Mattarella on Thursday swore in Italy's new pro-European government, heralding a fresh start for the eurozone's third-largest economy as the right-wing falls from power.

Published: 5 September 2019 12:10 CEST

Italy swears in its new pro-European coalition government

Italy's new government was sworn in at the presidential palace in Rome on Thursday. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and his ministers from the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and centre-left Democratic Party (PD) raised their right hands as they took the oath in the 16th century presidential palace in Rome.

“We're ready to give our utmost for the country,” M5S head Luigi Di Maio, the new foreign minister, said.

Luigi Di Maio (L) shakes hands with Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte as he is sworn in as foreign minister. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP

The coalition still faces a vote in parliament, set to take place in the lower house on Monday and the upper house on Tuesday.

“Good luck to the new government and its ministers. Let's change Italy!” PD head Nicola Zingaretti said.

Younger, more southern and pro-EU

First on the cabinet's to-do list is the 2020 budget, which has to be submitted to parliament by the end of September, and then to Brussels by October 15th.

The pick of the PD's Brussels-savvy Roberto Gualtieri as finance minister was hailed as “extremely positive, especially for the relationship with the EU” by Lorenzo Codogno, former chief economist at the Italian Treasury Department.

The previous coalition between the M5S and Matteo Salvini's anti-immigrant League had fought bitterly with the European Commission over its big-spending budget.

The markets welcomed the new cabinet, with Milan's FTSE Mib stock market up 0.5 percent after the swearing-in ceremony.

It is the youngest ever in Italy's post-war history — the average age being 47 years old — and has more ministers from the country's disadvantaged south than the wealthy north.

Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP

'We'll oppose it'

Of the 21 ministers, nine hail from the PD, 10 from the M5S, one from the small left-wing Free and Equals party, and one has no affiliation with any political party — the new interior minister.

Luciana Lamorgese, a former Milan security chief, takes over from firebrand Salvini, the strongman who pulled the League from the previous coalition last month, collapsing the government. The social media wizard had hoped to send Italy straight to the polls to take advantage of his soaring popularity figures.

On Thursday he predicted the new government “won't last long”.

“We'll oppose it in parliament, in the town halls, in the town squares, and then finally we'll vote, and we'll win,” he said. The League head was reported to have refused to be in place at the interior ministry to hand over the keys to Lamorgese.

The new interior minister “is the anti-Salvini, mediatically-speaking,” said the Repubblica daily. “She has no social networks. She won't ever be seen doing live Facebook videos from the rooftop of the interior ministry.”

Lamorgese will, however, be tasked with handling Italy's divisive immigration issue, a subject that won Salvini mass votes.

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The strike comes after Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama — who is close to Meloni — called a top RAI editor to complain about a television report into Italy’s controversial migration deal with his country.

The Usigrai trade union called the strike from May 6 to May 7 saying talks with management had failed to address their concerns.

It cited numerous issues, including staff shortages and contract issues, but in first place was “the suffocating control over journalistic work, with the attempt to reduce RAI to a megaphone for the government”.

It had already used that phrase to object to what critics say is the increasing influence over RAI by figures close to Prime Minister Meloni, who leads Italy’s most right-wing government since World War II.

However, another union of RAI journalists, Unirai, said they would not join what they called a “political” strike, defending the return to “pluralism” at the broadcaster.

Funded in part by a licence fee and with top managers long chosen by politicians, RAI’s independence has always been an issue of debate.

But the arrival in power of Meloni — leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, who formed a coalition with Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party and the late Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing Forza Italia — redoubled concerns.

Tensions erupted at the weekend amid accusations RAI censored a speech by a leading writer criticising Meloni ahead of Liberation Day on April 25, when Italians mark the defeat of Fascism and the Nazis at the end of World War II.

Both RAI’s management and Meloni have denied censorship, and the premier posted the text of the monologue on her social media.

In another twist, Albania’s premier confirmed Thursday he called senior RAI editor Paolo Corsini about an TV report on Sunday into Italy’s plans to build two migration processing centres on Albanian territory.

Rama told La Stampa newspaper the report was “biased” and contained “lies” – adding that he had not raised the issue with Meloni.

The Report programme claimed the costs of migrant centres, which are under construction, were already “out of control” and raised questions about criminals benefiting from the project.