President Sergio Mattarella on
Wednesday handed law professor Giuseppe Conte a mandate as
premier-designate to try to form a government backed by the
anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) and the anti-migrant,
Euroskeptic League parties.
Conte accepted with reservations, as is the usual practice.
Conte, an unelected 54-year-old Puglia-born lawyer and
academic picked by the two populist parties, will assemble a
team of ministers he will then propose for Mattarella's
approval.
The M5S and League have already agreed their government team
and a government 'contract' including a basic income, flat tax,
pension reform, and vows to renegotiate EU spending limits,
expel half a million undocumented migrants, revise the TAV
high-speed rail line with France, lift compulsory school
vaccinations, scrap hundreds of 'useless' laws, and strike a new
partnership with Russia.
Mattarella is expected to have something to say about some
touted ministerial picks, especially anti-EU economist Paolo
Savona as economy minister.
He may also challenge some aspects of the programme if they
clash with the Italian Constitution and international treaties.
Conte, who would be Italy's sixth unelected premier, was
chided Tuesday on some allegedly misstated parts of his CV and
his past representation of the poster girl for the discredited
Stamina stem-cell treatment.
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