ROME, Oct 22 (Reuters) – Giorgia Meloni was sworn in as Italy’s first woman prime minister on Saturday alongside her cabinet team, giving the country its most right-wing government since World War Two.
She takes office at an especially fraught moment, with Italy’s debt-laden economy once again heading into recession, firms buckling under the weight of soaring energy bills, and splits within her coalition over the war in Ukraine.
Standing beneath the crystal chandeliers of a frescoed chamber in the presidential palace, Meloni took her oath of office as her 6-year-old daughter looked on.
Head of the nationalist Brothers of Italy, Meloni swept to victory in an election last month as part of a coalition that included Forza Italia, led by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and Matteo Salvini’s anti-immigrant League.
Her government, the 12th this century, replaces a national unity administration piloted by former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi, who was at the forefront of European Union efforts to sanction Russia after it invaded Ukraine in February.
While Meloni has pledged support for Ukraine, Berlusconi has repeatedly undercut her, earlier this week blaming Kyiv for the war and revealing he had exchanged gifts and “sweet letters” with his old friend, Russian President Vladimir Putin.
After days of often tense talks, Meloni unveiled her team on Friday, giving five ministries each to the League and Forza Italia and reserving nine cabinet posts for her own party.
Technocrats make up the rest of the 24-strong squad, which includes just six women and where the average age is 60.
Italy’s perennially weak economy and ballooning national debt were entrusted to Giancarlo Giorgetti, seen as a moderate member of the League. The Foreign Ministry was handed to Forza Italia veteran Antonio Tajani, seen as a pro-European dove.
Tajani told a local television channel his first act would be to call his Ukrainian counterpart to assure him of Italy’s continued solidarity.
‘PATRIOTS COMING TO POWER’
Meloni’s party has neo-fascist roots, but she sought to project a moderate image during the election campaign, dropping previous anti-EU rhetoric and pledging to keep Italy at the heart of European and Western institutions.
European Commission leaders in Brussels sent her messages of congratulations on Saturday.
“I count on and look forward to constructive cooperation with the new government on the challenges we face together,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter.
Meloni also received plaudits from Europe’s nationalist conservatives, who hope her government will prove a powerful ally in their regular battles with Brussels.
“Congratulations Giorgia Meloni on the formation of your government! Big day for the European Right!” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wrote on Twitter.
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen tweeted: “All over Europe, patriots are coming to power.”
Meloni is due to hold her first cabinet meeting on Sunday following a formal handover of power with Draghi.
She will then will face obligatory confidence votes in parliament during the week that she will easily win given her comfortable majority.
(Reporting by Angelo Amante and Giuseppe FonteWriting by Crispian BalmerEditing by Kirsten Donovan and Helen Popper)
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Key ministers in new Italian government
Giorgia Meloni’s Italian government will be sworn in on Saturday at 10 a.m. (0800 GMT). Her cabinet will be made up of 24 ministers. Here the profiles of some of the key figures:
ECONOMY MINISTER
Giancarlo Giorgetti, 55, is a veteran political wheeler-dealer viewed as a moderate and relatively pro-European member of his right-wing League party.
As industry minister in Mario Draghi’s outgoing government Giorgetti helped block a number of Chinese takeover bids in strategic sectors of Italy’s economy.
Prior to that he spent most of his 26 years in parliament behind the scenes, negotiating on others’ behalf and making influential friends in finance and business.
As lower house budget committee head for 10 years between 2001-2013, Giorgetti learned Rome’s legislative processes inside out, and his renowned networking skills extend from politics through business to Italy’s powerful Roman Catholic church.
He was not Prime Minister Meloni’s first choice for the job. She had wanted a technocrat and sources say she approached European Central Bank board member Fabio Panetta, who declined the post. She then turned to Giorgetti.
FOREIGN MINISTER AND DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Antonio Tajani, 69, is one of the closest aides to former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a safe pair of hands with solid EU credentials who has been deputy leader of Berlusconi’s conservative Forza Italia party since 2018.
A former journalist, Tajani entered politics with Berlusconi in 1994 and spent most of his political career in Brussels, either in the European Parliament or in the European Commission.
He led the EU parliament in 2017-2019. At the Commission, he held the transport (2008-2010) and industry (2010-2014) portfolios.
In his youth, Tajani supported a right-wing pro-monarchy party. He speaks French, Spanish, English and Italian.
INTERIOR MINISTER
Matteo Piantedosi, 59, is a career civil servant who was chief of staff to League leader Matteo Salvini during his term at the interior ministry in 2018-19, helping him to shape his hard-line policies against illegal immigration.
Although he is close to Salvini, Piantedosi is a technocrat without party affiliation and has no previous experience as a minister. He has spent the last two years as Rome’s prefect – a position which upholds security and public order in the capital.
INFRASTRUCTURE MINISTER AND DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Matteo Salvini, 49, is the head of the hard-right League party and a former interior minister who has promoted a populist agenda, including mass deportations of boat migrants, sweeping tax cuts and lowering the retirement age.
Bearded and stocky, the plain-speaking Salvini took charge of the League in 2013 when it was a small, scandal-plagued regional party. He turned it into a national force and looked set to dominate Italian politics before a series of missteps saw his popularity dive over the past three years.
A one-time fervent supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Salvini has denied allegations his party was funded by Moscow and has criticised the invasion of Ukraine. He rejected suggestions he should stand down as League leader after its weak showing in the Sept. 25 election.
INDUSTRY MINISTER
Adolfo Urso, 65, from Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, began his political career in the youth organisation of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), the post-fascist party created in 1946 by supporters of dictator Benito Mussolini.
A former journalist, Urso was first elected to parliament in 1994. He held posts in centre-right governments led by Silvio Berlusconi and recently served as president of an influential parliamentary committee on security.
In this role, he urged Mario Draghi’s government and parliament to strengthen so-called golden powers aimed at shielding industries deemed of strategic importance from foreign takeovers.
DEFENCE MINISTER
Guido Crosetto, 59, is a defence industry lobbyist, a close aide to Meloni and co-founder of her party. He began his political career with the Christian Democratic Party in the 1980s and was a long-time member of parliament until 2019 when he resigned to become president of AIAD, a federation of companies working in the aerospace and defence sector.
Almost two metres (6.6 feet) tall and bald, he is nicknamed ‘the gentle giant’ or Shrek, a reference to the cartoon character. He served as junior defence minister in a government led by Berlusconi between 2008 and 2011.
JUSTICE MINISTER
Carlo Nordio, 75, a Brothers of Italy lawmaker, is well-known in Italy as the former prosecutor of Venice, a post from which he retired in 2017.
He was a fierce opponent of pool of magistrates that led the so-called “Clean Hands” corruption investigation which brought down Italy’s political class in the early 1990s. Meloni insisted on him for the job, overcoming resistance from Berlusconi who wanted a Forza Italia member in the justice ministry.
