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| Italian president names interim prime minister until fresh elections | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Italy is to hold fresh elections in the autumn after President Sergio Mattarella appointed an economist as interim prime minister following the collapse of a bid for power by populist parties. | |
| Mattarella asked Carlo Cottarelli, a former International Monetary Fund official, to try to form a government before the elections, which are likely to be seen as a referendum on Italy’s continued inclusion in the eurozone. | |
| Mattarella enraged the Eurosceptic Five Star Movement (M5S) and the far-right League on Sunday night by vetoing their choice for finance minister. He said the nomination of Paolo Savona, an 81-year-old Eurosceptic, risked threatening the confidence of foreign investors and destabilising the country. | |
| The move prompted the resignation of the prime minister-in-waiting, Giuseppe Conte, and threw Italy into further political uncertainty more than two months after elections led to a hung parliament. | |
| In brief remarks on Monday, Cottarelli sought to play down the political crisis, which some analysts have said is the most serious to hit Italy since the end of the second world war. | |
| “The Italian economy is still growing and public finances are under control,” Cottarelli said. “Dialogue with the EU to defend our interests is essential and we can do better but it has to be constructive.” | |
| At the heart of the fight was Mattarella’s contention that Italy would have sent the wrong message by appointing an anti-euro finance minister. Matteo Salvini, the head of the League (formerly known as the Northern League), countered that claim, suggesting he had never called for an exit from the euro. However, Salvini has long campaigned for Italy to abandon the eurozone. | |
| Mattarella’s move was met with calls for his impeachment by the populist parties, which won the most votes in the 4 March election. However, as president, Mattarella can accept or block the appointment of proposed ministers, and vetoes have been issued before, including under Mattarella’s predecessor, Giorgio Napolitano. | |
| Cottarelli will form a technocrat government, made up of ministers who have not been popularly elected. In choosing a former IMF official, Mattarella – known as “Mr Scissors” for making cuts to public spending – sought to calm nerves in Brussels and around the world about the rise of anti-EU populism in Italy. | |
| It is a stunning development less than two weeks after the leaders of M5S and the League agreed a common agenda to form a government. | |
| Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister and head of the centre-right Forza Italia, turned on his former allies in the League on Monday, saying it was irresponsible for politicians to call for Mattarella’s resignation. “At a time like this, everyone’s first duty is to defend the savings of the Italian people, safeguarding our country’s families and companies,” he said. | |
| Federica Mogherini, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, who was a minister in Matteo Renzi’s centre-left cabinet in 2014, voiced Brussels’ faith in Mattarella. “I have full trust, as I believe all Italians have, in the Italian institutions, starting with the Italian president, that is the guarantor of the Italian constitution,” she said. “That is a wonderful constitution, very solid.” | |
| Mogherini added: “I notice today that trust, the level of trust, the Italians have in the European Union has gone up on the last days. It is now 41%. I believe this is something we should all reflect on.” | |
| Additional reporting by Daniel Boffey | |
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