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| Giuseppe Conte fails to form populist government in Italy | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Italy has been plunged into fresh political turmoil after prime minister-designate Giuseppe Conte formally rejected a mandate to form a new populist government. | |
| Conte, an academic and lawyer with no political experience, said he had given “the maximum effort and attention” to accomplishing his task, but had been unable to do so despite the “full collaboration” of the coalition partners, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and far-right League. | |
| He took his decision on Sunday evening after presenting his choice of the cabinet ministers to President Sergio Mattarella, who vetoed the controversial proposal to hand the economy ministry to Paolo Savona, an 81-year-old former industry minister who opposed the signing of the Maastricht treaty and describes the euro as a “German cage”. | |
| Mattarella, who is staunchly pro-European, said he had refused to approve the populist leaders’ choice because the appointment would have “alarmed markets and investors, Italians and foreigners”. | |
| In a televised address, a sombre Mattarella said he was not to blame for the impasse, adding that he had proposed alternatives for the key economy ministry position, but his suggestions had been spurned by M5S and the League. | |
| Most observers think the president is likely to now appoint a technocrat as prime minister to guide the country to fresh elections, following the inconclusive polls on 4 March when M5S was returned as the largest party. | |
| Conte received the mandate last week to try to form a viable government from the rival populist forces, who disagree on so much that they have proposed equipping their government with a “conciliation committee” to settle its internal differences. | |
| Matteo Salvini, the League leader, and M5S’s Luigi Di Maio vented their fury at Mattarella’s decision. “We have a problem with democracy; ours is not a free democracy,” Di Maio said. “I have been a great admirer of Mattarella but this [an] incomprehensible choice. | |
| “In this country, you can be a condemned criminal, a tax fraud convict, under investigation for corruption and be a minister … but if you criticise Europe, you cannot be an economy minister.” | |
| Salvini said the coalition partners had nominated a candidate who “is esteemed around the world … he worked with Bank of Italy. His only fault was to say that Europe, as it is now, doesn’t work. I was ready to go to my office at the interior ministry tomorrow morning to start making this country more secure ... but somebody said ‘no’.” | |
| Before Conte or Mattarella had even finished their meeting, Salvini said the only option was to hold another election, probably later this year. “In a democracy, if we are still in democracy, there’s only one thing to do, let the Italians have their say,” Salvini said in a fiery speech to supporters in central Italy. | |
| Europe has made little secret of its concern at the planned new government’s Eurosceptic intentions. The loudest alarm bells are ringing over the parties’ stated ambition to rewrite the EU’s rules and domestic policies which combine rises in public spending promised by M5S with tax cuts favoured by the League. | |
| As the European commission unveiled its economic advice to member states last week, the body’s finance commissioner, Pierre Moscovici, said he was hoping for “cooperation on the basis of dialogue, respect and mutual trust”. | |
| The trade commissioner, Cecilia Malmstöm, said “there are some things there that are worrying” about Italy’s incoming government. | |
| Economists calculate the cost of the coalition’s promises – lower taxes, higher benefits, earlier retirement – could reach €170bn (£150bn), about 10% of Italy’s GDP. This would add to the country’s €2.1tn debt mountain and potentially trigger the EU’s worst-case scenario: a Greek-style debt crisis in the eurozone’s third-biggest economy. | |
| The coalition also envisages an 18-month limit for the asylum process, the detention of irregular migrants, and the repatriation of half a million people to their countries of origin – most of it in violation of EU law. | |
| It is also opposed to sanctions against Russia, which it describes as a possible partner rather than as an enemy of Europe. | |
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