Italy's PM-designate Giuseppe Conte fails to form populist government
Source: The Guardian
Italy’s prime minister-designate has told the president he has been unable to form what would have been western Europe’s first populist government, potentially paving the way for fresh elections.
A presidential palace official told reporters on Sunday night that Giuseppe Conte “has given back the mandate” to try to form a government that President Sergio Mattarella gave him four days earlier.
Conte, a little-known law professor with no political experience, took his list of ministers to Mattarella, but the president rejected Conte’s candidate to the economy ministry, the 81-year-old Eurosceptic economist Paolo Savona. Mattarella is staunchly pro-Europe.
Conte said he tried his hardest to form a government and had full cooperation from would-be coalition partners, the populist Five Star Movement (M5S) and League parties.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/27/italys-pm-designate-giuseppe-conte-fails-to-form-populist-government