In the presence of President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinale Palace in Rome, the new Italian government is sworn in. Most posts in it went to the Five Star Movement and the Democratic Party (DP). At the end of August, these two political forces created a ruling coalition and agreed that former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will head the new Council of Ministers.

He resigned on August 20. The reason was the collapse of the ruling coalition, consisting of the Five Star Movement and the Liga Party, whose leader Matteo Salvini served as deputy prime minister and head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The parliamentary majority broke up due to the long-standing disagreements of the two political forces on a number of fundamental issues. The most significant is the tax reform announced by the government. Salvini advocated a transition to a flat taxation scale, while the Five Star Movement, tending to left rhetoric, considered such an innovation unacceptable and infringing on the interests of the poorest segments of the population.

The new Council of Ministers includes 22 people. Half are members of the Five Star Movement. Its leader Luigi Di Mayo became Foreign Minister. The Democratic Party went to the posts of ministers of defense, transport and economics. The choice of the head of the economic department was unexpected. They became Roberto Gaultieri. He is a historian by profession and does not have a specialized economic education.

The center-left party, Free and Equal, also entered the government. It does not belong to the ruling coalition, but supports it. Roberto Sperantza, the representative of this party, got the post of head of the Ministry of Health. As for the post of Minister of the Interior, freed after Salvini’s resignation, he was taken by non-partisan Luciana Lamorgese. She previously served as Prefect of Milan.

The peculiarity of the new government is that there will be no deputy prime ministers in charge of these or those areas. Consequently, the powers of the prime minister and ministers will increase. Also, the new Council of Ministers, unlike the old one, cannot be called the cabinet of Euro-skeptics. The Democratic Party favors Italy's active participation in the work of the EU. The new Minister of Economics, Gualtieri, was a member of the European Parliament for many years and for five years led the commission on economic and monetary problems.

It should also be noted that the government has seven women and 11 people from the south of the country. This ratio is very unusual for Italian authorities. In addition, the government will be the youngest in the history of the country: the average age of ministers is 47 years.

Government vs Salvini

The new Council of Ministers took up its duties in difficult circumstances. The economic situation in Italy leaves much to be desired. So, this spring the size of public debt reached a historic high of € 2.373 trillion. In June-July, the European Commission discussed the issue of sanctions against Italy for exceeding the country's state debt level acceptable for an EU member. Sanctions were not introduced, however, this issue has not been finally removed from the agenda, experts recall.

  • Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte talks with Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini
  • Reuters
  • © Yara Nardi

“The time has come to show courage and determination. Courage - to start a better country. And determination - to follow this goal, not allowing yourself to retreat in front of obstacles. I personally will show maximum dedication in my sincere desire to serve the country I love, ”Giuseppe Conte wrote on his Twitter.

Questo è il momento del coraggio, e della determinazione. Il coraggio di disegnare un Paese migliore. La determinazione di perseguire questo obiettivo, senza lasciarsi frenare dagli ostacoli. Di mio aggiungerò tanta passione, che mi sgorga naturale nel servire il Paese che amo pic.twitter.com/fGOwNvQV1Y

- Giuseppe Conte (@GiuseppeConteIT) August 29, 2019

At the same time, many Italian politicians note that the new composition of the Council of Ministers is far from optimal. “Not a dream government,” former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called him on Rai. The Democratic Party also believes that the composition of the government is not the best, but they are already satisfied with the fact that the League has left power.

“We stopped Salvini, and the mere proclamation of this (new) stage once again elevates Italy to the rank of the main actors in Europe,” the AP leader quotes Nicola Zingaretti as saying.

Salvini himself posted an appeal on his Facebook, where he said that members of the new government are united only by hatred of the League.

According to experts, Salvini was defeated, as his plan, which was to achieve early elections and improve the position of his party, failed.

“Opinion polls over the past month show that Salvini lost four percent of the rating due to the government crisis, while Five Stars, on the contrary, gained the same amount. Luigi Di Mayo showed himself as a strong leader in the current crisis. He achieved what he wanted. Salvini made a bet and lost. Therefore, he shook his personal rating, ”said Elena Maslova, assistant professor of integration processes at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and International Relations, in an interview with RT.

Nevertheless, having lost, Salvini did not lose hope of a quick revenge, since the fall in his rating did not acquire a landslide character, said Vladimir Schweitzer, head of the department of social and political studies at the Institute of Europe at the Russian Academy of Sciences.

“We can say that the offensive of the“ League ”has choked, but nothing more. Economically, Italy looks very weak. The country has high youth unemployment; industry is not doing well. Under these conditions, being in the opposition may be more profitable for Salvini than being in power, ”the expert said in an interview with RT.

In his opinion, the responsibility for the current sad economic situation now lies not with the League, but not with its opponents. If the government has any blunders, which is quite possible, Salvini uses this.

Maslova recalls that Salvini commented on the first report on the new Council of Ministers, in which there will be no representatives of the League, with the phrase "I do not give up."

“In this phrase - his whole principled position. Salvini is supported by 30% of Italians. This is strong enough support. And, most likely, he will torpedo all the initiatives of the Democratic Party, questioning all possible actions of the authorities. There will be a very strong confrontation in the near future. We can say that Italy postponed the holding of early parliamentary elections for some time, ”she says.

Foreign policy changes

The formed Council of Ministers will deal primarily with the country's economic problems, experts say. They do not expect major changes in foreign policy, but there will still be some adjustment to the country's foreign policy.

“Prior to coming to power, the Five Star Party held a soft but Euro-skeptical position. Now it will apparently be more loyal to the EU. The Democratic Party is a traditional partner of the European Union. So we should expect a warming in relations between Rome and Brussels. The country's position on the migration issue is likely to change. The hard line followed by Salvini will be relaxed, ”Maslova predicts.

  • Italian Parliament meeting in Rome
  • Reuters
  • © Yara Nardi

Italy will try to restore its position in the EU, Schweitzer believes. The problem of settling their external debt will be the main one for the country.

“At the same time, no corrections of Italy’s course towards Russia are expected. Politicians in Rome, as before, will talk about the need to lift anti-Russian sanctions. But they will not be able to do anything, since the voice of Italy will remain in the minority in the EU. I also don’t think that the new government will pursue a more pro-American course, despite the fact that Donald Trump supports Conte. Objectively, the economic policy of the American president is anti-European and, of course, Italy will not be on his side, ”the expert said.

In general, analysts are urging not to dramatize the change of power in Italy.

“This is a country of permanent political crises since the end of the 80s of the last century. This is due to the fact that Italy is very different: the north, south and center are very different. It is extremely difficult to find political stability here, especially with a lame economy. Exaggerating a little, we can say that the political crisis here never ends, ”Schweizer sums up.