FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
New Lega-Five Star Government Formed in Italy
May 31, 2018 (EIRNS)—The financiers couldn’t stop it, so they’re trying to manage and control it.
Interim Prime Minister Carlo Cottarelli resigned, and President Sergio Mattarella has agreed with the Lega and the Five Star Party on a new list of ministers under Giuseppe Conte as Prime Minister. They are expected to be sworn in rapidly before Italy’s National Day on June 2.
The new government’s program is the same as the last one, with a national investment bank and eventually a Glass-Steagall separation of commercial, deposit banks from the speculative merchant or “investment” banks.
Venerable economist Paolo Savona, accused of Euroskepticism, whose rejection by Brussels for the post of Economy Minister last week triggered the current crisis, is back as European Affairs Minister, where he will be in charge of negotiations with Brussels. The Treasury and Finance portfolio go to Giovanni Tria, head of the Italian School of Administration, who is known for being pro-euro but anti-austerity. The Foreign Minister will be the aristocrat Enzo Moavero Milanesi, a former Secretary General of EU Commission from the Bocconi family of Venice. Lega head Matteo Salvini will be Interior Minister in charge of police, and Five Star head Luigi Di Maio will be Labor and Industry Minister; they are both deputy prime ministers. Prime Minister Conte will be checked by Giancarlo Giorgetti of the Lega who will be Undersecretary of State to the Prime Minister. The Lega gets the Agriculture Ministry (Gian Marco Centinaio), while the Infrastructure portfolio goes to Five Stars’ Danilo Toninelli, who recently said that they will run a cost-benefit analysis on all large projects. Five Star also be responsible for the Ministries of Justice (Alfonso Bonafede), Health (Giulia Grillo), and Southern Italy (Erika Stefani). The Defense Ministry goes to Five Stars’ Elisabetta Trenta, a former Army captain, who has been an advisor to the Army.
The neo-liberal Partito Democratico is going berserk, shrieking, “It is a populist government, Salvini has won!” and similar histrionics. Time will tell.
