Giorgia Meloni was sworn in as Italy’s new prime minister to become the country’s first female leader heading its most right-wing government since World War II, after President Sergio Mattarella tasked her to form an administration.
At the Quirinale Palace in Rome on Saturday, Italy’s new Cabinet took an oath following Meloni’s coalition’s election win. An official handover ceremony will take place with her predecessor, Mario Draghi, on Sunday.
She will address both houses of parliament next week for a confidence vote that’ll confirm she holds a majority.
Meloni faces governing at a difficult time, with investors watching closely. A premiership involves steering the euro area’s third-biggest economy and its mammoth debt through an energy crisis compounded by rising interest rates and slowing economic growth.
She has picked League party’s Giancarlo Giorgetti as finance minister. Giorgetti is a compromise, since he is a longtime lawmaker, a top figure in Matteo Salvini’s League party and a former economic development minister in Draghi’s government. She also chose Antonio Tajani, of Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, as foreign minister and deputy premier. Salvini himself has become infrastructures minister and also deputy premier.
Meloni’s coalition — which includes her Brothers of Italy party, former premier Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and Salvini’s League — had indicated her as their candidate earlier Friday, overcoming tensions that had emerged during the past few weeks.
Italy’s economy is expected to shrink by 0.2% next year, one of only two euro zone countries facing a contraction in output alongside Germany, according to the latest forecasts by the International Monetary Fund. Much of that is due to the two countries’ dependence on Russian fossil fuels.
Energy crisis
Italy has spent over 66 billion euros ($64.3 billion) so far to protect its economy from the worst of the energy price hikes and more will likely be needed. One of Meloni’s first acts as premier will be to decide how much money to give to companies and families that continue to be damaged by the energy crisis.
During the electoral campaign, Meloni had vowed not to increase the country’s borrowing and she’s lucky to have a 9 billion euro spending cushion left by her predecessor Draghi to help deal with initial emergencies.
Meloni has however been under pressure from ally Salvini and his party to spend more to help Italians cope. It remains to be seen how the differences within her coalition play out in the coming months.
If the past few weeks are any indication, it won’t be easy. Since her decisive electoral victory on Sept. 25, she’s been struggling to keep her coalition on track.
Sabotage
She first had to face an attempt by Berlusconi to sabotage her choice for Senate speaker last week when his Forza Italia lawmakers walked out of parliament. Meloni managed to elect her candidate anyway by collecting stray votes from opposition members.
This week, Berlusconi continued to wreak havoc when an audio message was released by newswire LaPresse in which he praised Russian President Vladimir Putin saying he’d rekindled their friendship through gifts and letters, and blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Russia’s invasion.
The remarks so angered Meloni that she threatened to break up the coalition and not form a government if her allies were unable to commit to supporting Ukraine along with Italy’s partners in the European Union and in the NATO military alliance.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February after having built up a military presence on the country’s border. To justify the invasion, Putin accused Ukraine’s government of “genocide” against ethnic Russians and native Russian speakers in the Donbas, an unfounded allegation wholly rejected by Ukraine as well as the U.S. and the EU.
Such tensions underscore how difficult it may be to govern the country even with a wide majority in parliament. She may have difficulty getting cabinet approval for further weapon and economic aid to Ukraine and rifts in other areas are likely to emerge.
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(With assistance from Tommaso Ebhardt, Antonio Vanuzzo and Marco Bertacche.)
