Matteo Salvini, who has plunged Italy into turmoil by pulling out of a coalition government, could eventually take the country out of the EU, a former prime minister warned on Sunday.
A coalition government has been agreed in Italy, ending months of uncertainty in the EU's fourth-biggest economy. Prime Minister-designate Giuseppe Conte presented his list of ministers to President Sergio Mattarella for the second time in a week and the new government will be sworn in this Friday, June first.
Senior Italian politicians on Tuesday called for EU budget commissioner Gunther Oettinger to resign over an absurd comment in which he voiced the hope that the country's poor economic situation will keep populist parties out of government.
The leader of Italy's biggest political party has called for the president to be impeached after he vetoed a choice for finance minister. Luigi Di Maio of the populist Five Star Party said President Sergio Mattarella had caused an institutional crisis.
Italy's president Sergio Mattarella accepted a political novice Giuseppe Conte, a populist coalition's candidate, as prime minister on Wednesday in a bid to forge a functioning government and end the nation's weeks-long political deadlock.
Law professor Giuseppe Conte has been named as the choice of the Five Star Movement and League to lead the Italian coalition government. The leaders of the two parties have been holding talks with President Sergio Mattarella over the approval of their coalition government.
Italian anti-establishment and far-right leaders met on Friday to hash out a deal over a joint government that could be announced as soon as Sunday. Matteo Salvini, leader of the nationalist League, told reporters after meeting head of Five Star Movement (M5S) Luigi Di Maio at the lower house Chamber of Deputies that their aim was to reach an agreement as soon as possible.
The coalition, which includes former prime minister’s Forza Italia (Go Italy) Silvio Berlusconi and two far-right parties, is being seen within the context of Europe’s lurch away from conventional parties ahead of the March 4 vote.
By Gwynne Dyer - Today saying No is the most beautiful and glorious form of politics....Whoever doesn't understand that can go screw themselves. It could have been Donald Trump before the US election two weeks ago, or Boris Johnson during the Brext campaign in Britain last June, but it was actually Beppe Grillo, founder and leader of Italy's populist Five Star Movement.
An anti-establishment candidate has been elected Rome's first female mayor after Sunday's runoff elections in Italy. Thirty-seven-year-old lawyer Virginia Raggi led by a 2-1 margin over Premier Matteo Renzi's chosen candidate, Roberto Giachetti, who conceded defeat less than an hour after polls closed.