Who is Italy′s candidate for prime minister, Giuseppe Conte? | News | DW | 21.05.2018

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Who is Italy's candidate for prime minister, Giuseppe Conte?

Italy's populist coalition has tapped an academic with no political experience to be the country's next prime minister. If confirmed, he could lead a big-spending, anti-establishment government. So who is Giuseppe Conte?

Giuseppe Conte

Largely unknown law professor Giuseppe Conte was chosen Monday by a far-right coalition of the 5-Star Movement (M5S) and League to lead Italy's government.

The 54-year-old, who is closely associated with M5S, has never been elected to parliament and is a relative newcomer to Italy's political scene.

Read more:  The populist odd couple preparing for government

  • Giuseppe Conte (picture-alliance/dpa/S. Lore)

    Italy's populist government: Key players

    Conte: Novice at the helm

    Giuseppe Conte, a little-known law professor with no political experience, was picked by the League and 5-Star Movement (M5S) as their candidate for prime minister. He was forced to temporarily give up his leadership bid after the parties' cabinet selection was initially blocked. However, after the two parties struck a deal with President Sergio Mattarella, Conte was eventually sworn in on June 1.

  • Sergio Mattarella

    Italy's populist government: Key players

    Mattarella: President with the final say

    President Sergio Mattarella faced calls for his impeachment after he prevented the populist alliance from taking office. He singled out its choice for finance minister, Paolo Savona, warning that an openly euroskeptic minister in that position went against the parties' joint promise to simply "change Europe for the better." After the parties agreed to replace Savona, Mattarella gave the go-ahead.

  • Luigi Di Maio

    Italy's populist government: Key players

    Di Maio: Anti-austerity advocate

    M5S chief Luigi Di Maio secured his party 32 percent of the vote in the March election. With the populist M5S-League coalition in power, Di Maio assumed the role of joint deputy prime minister and took over the economic development portfolio. The M5S leader has come under fire for his anti-immigration rhetoric, including calling rescue missions to save migrants from drowning a "sea-taxi service."

  • Matteo Salvini (picture-alliance/AP Photo/A. Di Meo)

    Italy's populist government: Key players

    Salvini: 'The Captain'

    Matteo Salvini is the leader of the anti-immigrant, euroskeptic League, which won 17 percent of the vote in the March election. A former MEP, he and his party have no experience in governing. Salvini has taken on the position of interior minister within Conte's Cabinet. Known for his hostile rhetoric toward immigrants and the EU, Salvini once described the euro a "crime against humanity."

  • Paolo Savona (Getty Images/AFP/F. Frustaci)

    Italy's populist government: Key players

    Savona: Anti-euro radical

    Paola Savona, initially tipped to lead the Finance Ministry, has called the euro a "German cage" and said that Italy needs a plan to leave the single currency. The 81-year-old's stance won him the backing of most Italian lawmakers but that wasn't enough to stop his appointment being vetoed. In his place steps Giovanni Tria, an economics professor without any previous government experience.

  • Carlo Cottarelli (picture-alliance/NurPhoto/S. Lore)

    Italy's populist government: Key players

    Cottarelli: Temporary caretaker

    Carlo Cottarelli was set to become Italy's caretaker prime minster after the M5S-League alliance failed to have its controversial cabinet picks approved. The former IMF economist's time in the spotlight was short-lived, however. Political uncertainty in Italy rocked Europe's financial markets and prompted Mattarella to swiftly renegotiate and approve Salvini and Di Maio's governing coalition.

  • Silvio Berlusconi

    Italy's populist government: Key players

    Berlusconi: Vanquished enabler

    Silvio Berlusconi (right) and his Forza Italia entered a four-party electoral alliance including League in the March election that secured the bloc 37 percent. Berlusconi is now upset at his right-wing ally Salvini after the League leader moved to work with M5S. Berlusconi has said he would act as a "reasonable and scrutinizing opposition."

    Author: Chase Winter


Conte first entered the spotlight ahead of the March 4 election, when his name was put forward by M5S as a possible Minister of Public Administration in charge of cleaning up Italy's notoriously complex bureaucracy.

"First we have to drastically abolish useless laws," Conte said at the time.

Read more: Italy's M5S-League coalition is risky business

Watch video 01:31

Italy's political uncertainty weighs on the economy

Career in academia

Born in 1964 in the village of Volturara Appula in Puglia, Conte studied law in Rome, before going on to study in Vienna, Paris, Cambridge and New York.

He is currently a professor of privacy law at Florence University, with previous teaching stints at Yale, Cambridge and the Sorbonne.

He also serves on the board of several academic bodies and has taken part in conferences on judicial issues hosted by M5S.

Read more: Italy between debt and utopian dreams

According to Italian media, Conte's WhatsApp account displays a photo of former US President John F. Kennedy, as well as one of his quotations: "Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try."

He has also been quoted as saying that he used to vote for the left, but that "the ideologies of the 20th century are no longer adequate (for 21st century politics)."

M5S and the League named Conte as their prime minister pick following weeks of deadlock after inconclusive elections in March. The parties last week unveiled their joint agenda, including plans to cut taxes, boost welfare spending, expand migrant deportations and ease austerity.

If Conte's appointment is confirmed by President Sergio Mattarella, he will then present a list of cabinet members for the president's approval, and the government will be subject to confidence votes in both houses of parliament. 

nm/gsw (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)

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