Giuseppe Conte has been sworn in as the Italian Prime Minister.
The ceremony took place in Rome.
Days of negotiations have ended and Italy will have a coalition government, after all.
Earlier this week, Sergio Mattarella invited former economist Carlo Cottarelli to form a government. In an abrupt U-turn, he has now abandoned this idea and assented to Giuseppe Conte leading Italy and forming a coalition government consisting of anti-establishment parties Five Star (M5S) and the League.
“All the conditions have been fulfilled for a political, Five Star and League government,” said Matteo Salvini (the League leader) and Luigi Di Maio (leader of M5S), in a joint statement.
In the most recent Italian elections, held in March, no party gained enough of the votes to rule on its own.
The M5S and the League joined forces and were set to form government with Independent candidate Giuseppe Conte as leader. Both the M5S and the League are broadly populist parties and have been characterised as eurosceptics. T
he popularity of these parties had surged in a nation beset by high unemployment rates and a sluggish economy.
Mattarella had objected to the coalition nominating anti-euro politician Paolo Savona as Minister of Economy and Finances and used his veto as President to block Conte from forming government. This led to Conte briefly resigning his position as leader of the coalition.
