Towards A New Government: Concerns Over the EU Project
On May 21, after ten days of non-stop negotiations, 5-Star-Movement and the League jointly nominated a Prime Minister: “We indicated the name of Giuseppe Conte, he will be Prime Minister of a political government”, the leader of the Five Star Movement Luigi Di Maio told reporters, meaning that the government would still reflect voters’ preferences in spite of having been appointed by the members of the main parties since no clear majority had emerged from the general elections (as provided for by the Italian law). In order to stress this concept once more, Di Maio added that Conte is a representative of the 5-Star-Movement and has been elected by 11 million Italians (he had indeed been proposed as a possible Minister of Public Administration by the party ahead of March’s general elections). Fifty-four year old Conte is a professor of private law at the University of Florence. He owns a law firm in Rome and is a member of the Consiglio di Presidenza della Giustizia Amministrativa, i.e. the self-governing body of the judges of regional administrative courts . He graduated at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” and perfected his studies at Yale, the Sorbonne and New York University. His appointment still needs to be approved by Italian President Sergio Mattarella, since, according to the Italian Constitution, it is up to the President to nominate the Prime Minister and the Ministers chosen by the Prime Minister (art. 92).
Appointed Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte (Source: The Post)
According to rumors, a list of potential ministers has been agreed upon by the two parties’ leaders as well. The League’s Matteo Salvini would be Interior Minister and Luigi Di Maio would be Minister of Work and Economic Development. The policy platform agreed on by the coalition has also been made public. It's provisions include the implementation of an unemployment support scheme for the most disadvantaged citizens amounting to a monthly salary of 780 EUR per person, tax cuts on wages, a roll-back of pension reforms that raise the retirement age, a review of EU budget rules and certain international trade agreements considered to be disadvantageous to Italy , an increase in the removal of illegal migrants and the creation of improved detention centers for illegal migrants in all Italian regions.
Many European media have expressed concern over the news. Significantly, the news agency Bloomberg London underlined that the policy program “combines the high-spending ambitions of the left with the low-tax ambitions of the right’ and that ”This implies a surge of public borrowing”. It also states that “the Italian misadventure [...] could easily be worse than Brexit for the EU” given that, compared to the U.K., Italy is “much more firmly embedded, part of the euro zone, and a core member of the European project”. Bloomberg’s concerns stem in particular from the parties’ urgency, as laid down in the program, to “review the structure of European economic governance, which is asymmetric, and based on the dominance of the market compared to the broader social and economic dimension,” and to “ reform the single market for goods, services, capital and labor”, to avoid “prejudicial effects on the national interest.”, as well as to rethink EU immigration policy. Similarly, French daily newspaper Liberation defines the program “worrying” for Europe and states it risks “projecting Rome into the unknown”, while German daily newspaper Tagesspiegel reports on its frontpage headline that “populists in Italy generate alarm in the EU” and that German former foreign Minister Gabriel warns that Italy’s recent political developments may “determine massive investments for Europe”.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella met today with the heads of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies Elisabetta Casellati and Roberto Fico in order to discuss current developments and to quickly decide on the next steps to be taken.
