The far-right leader has advanced that the leader of the League, Matteo Salvini, and the number two of Forza Italia, Antonio Tajani, will serve as deputy prime ministers
The far-right Giorgia Meloni has been appointed Prime Minister of Italy when the president, Sergio Mattarella, entrusted her this Friday with the task of forming a government during a meeting held at the Quirinal, the seat of the head of state. The leader of the Brothers of Italy party, winner of the legislative elections, has thus become, at 45 years of age, the first woman in the history of the country to take the reins of the Executive.
Meloni’s first measure has been to appoint Giancarlo Giorgetti as Minister of Economy, considered a moderate and pro-European figure of the League, Matteo Salvini’s extreme right formation. He has also confirmed that Salvini and Antonio Tajani, the number two of Forza Italia -the party led by Silvio Berlusconi-, will serve as deputy prime ministers in the future cabinet, in which they will also hold the portfolios of Infrastructure and Foreign Affairs, respectively.
Tajani will be in charge of Italian diplomacy despite controversial statements by Berlusconi, who this week reaffirmed his friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for provoking the invasion. The words of the veteran former head of government forced Meloni to clarify that his administration will be an ally of Europe and NATO.
Berlusconi’s formation has been left, however, without the Justice portfolio, for which former magistrate Carlo Nordio, deputy for Brothers of Italy in the current legislature, has been appointed.
Meloni has appeared smiling before the media shortly after receiving Mattarella’s assignment, before which he presented himself with the list of ministers already closed. The new cabinet will take office this Saturday morning, as announced by the Quirinal.
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