Italy's Conte names 5-Star and League party chiefs ministers

  • Italy's Prime Minister-designate Giuseppe Conte named his cabinet on Thursday, with the chiefs of the anti-establishment parties backing his coalition government in key ministerial roles.
  • The leader of the far-right League, Matteo Salvini, is to be interior minister, while 5-Star head Luigi Di Maio will spearhead a new ministry combining the industry and labor portfolios
  • Both Salvini and Di Maio will also be deputy prime ministers.
European Union (EU) and Italian national flag banners hang in central Rome on May 29, 2018 in Rome, Italy.
Elisabetta A. Villa | Getty Images
European Union (EU) and Italian national flag banners hang in central Rome on May 29, 2018 in Rome, Italy.

Italy's Prime Minister-designate Giuseppe Conte named his cabinet on Thursday, with the chiefs of the anti-establishment parties backing his coalition government in key ministerial roles.

The leader of the far-right League, Matteo Salvini, is to be interior minister, while 5-Star head Luigi Di Maio will spearhead a new, beefed-up ministry combining the industry and labor portfolios, Conte said.

Both Salvini and Di Maio will also be deputy prime ministers.

A little-known economics professor, Giovanni Tria, will be economy minister, while a former European affairs minister, Enzo Moavero Milanesi, is to be foreign minister. Conte and his ministers will be officially sworn in on Friday.

"We will work with determination to improve the quality of life of all Italians," Conte told reporters at the presidential palace after receiving his mandate from the head of state, Sergio Mattarella.