Italy gets a new populist power, opening the way for friction with Europe
Rome — Italy’s populist Five Star Movement and far-right League parties swept to power in a spectacular reversal of political fortunes that brings an end to three months of deadlock and opens the way to a period of friction with Europe. Giuseppe Conte, a law professor with no political experience, was sworn in as prime minister along with his cabinet on Friday by President Sergio Mattarella. The government will face a vote of confidence in both houses of parliament next week. The deal between the populist parties ends weeks of Byzantine wheeler-dealing during which Five Star’s Luigi Di Maio and the anti-immigrant League’s Matteo Salvini pulled the plug on a first attempt to form a government after the president vetoed their pick of a eurosceptic finance minister. With global markets in freefall at the prospect of a possible resurgence of the euro crisis, the populist leaders held on and emerged victorious as their revised cabinet was accepted late on Thursday. Di Maio and Salvini we...
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