Acting Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has handed over the mandate to form a government in the face of the refusal of Italian President Sergio Matarella to approve the appointment of the finance minister elected by the far-right populist coalition, paving the way for new political elections. Italy, the third largest economy in the euro area.
President Matarella invited economist Carlo Cotarelli, a former senior IMF official, to the presidential palace tomorrow, most likely to instruct him to form a "presidential government" to run the new elections.
Backed by the far-right Lega and the populist 5-Star Movement, Giuseppe Conte presented his cabinet list tonight, but clashed with President Matarella's refusal to appoint a Eurosceptic economist to head the economy and economy ministry.
Paolo Savona, 81, was strongly backed by Lega leader Matteo Salvini, who preferred to risk an institutional crisis with the country's president rather than step down.
"Whether we can work hard to give a future to this country and our children again or then to democracy, if we are still in a democracy, there is only one thing to do: to give the floor to the Italians," Salvini said. even Conte has submitted the order.
"Always the same"
President Matarella, a former judge of the Constitutional Court and a staunch supporter of the Constitution, has refused to succumb to what he considered as "imposition" of political parties as early as Thursday, contrary to what he saw as Italy's interests.
"The appointment of the economy minister is always a direct message of confidence or alert to economic and financial agents," President Matarella told reporters.
"I asked for this ministry a political representative of the majority that is in line with the program agreement; that is not seen as support for a line that could cause Italy to inevitably leave the euro," he added.
The president's stern stance angered the leader of the 5 Star Movement, Luigi Di Maio, who described the president's refusal as "incomprehensible" and said late at night that he would ask for the dismissal of Sergio Matarella.
The election campaign in Italy has never really ended and is described as very harsh. "Il palazzo contre la piazza" (the palaces of power against the street ": this, according to political analysts, will be the leitmotif of a campaign that can last for many months.
Salvini has already set the tone for tonight's rally: "If a minister bothers the powerful powers that have slaughtered us, that means he is a good minister."
"Stay with us, they have people upstairs against us, but also many others who support us," Di Maio told his supporters.
An atmosphere that does not reassure the markets at all, extremely nervous since last week. On Friday, the Milan stock market closed with a new fall of 1,54%. The spread reached 217 basis points during the day, the highest level since December 2013, to close at 206 points.