(Bloomberg) -- Italian President Sergio Mattarella takes center-stage as he weighs whether to give law professor Giuseppe Conte a chance to lead a populist government following a last-minute wobble over the candidate’s suitability for the post.
Mattarella is due to announce his decision as early as Wednesday after Conte, 53, was put forward by Luigi Di Maio of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and Matteo Salvini of the anti-immigrant League. A flurry of reports in Italian media cast doubt on Conte’s premiership before it even began, prompting Five Star and the League to reaffirm Conte’s candidacy on Tuesday evening.
With markets already stunned by the radical policy platform presented by Five Star and the League, investors -- and European governments -- are looking to Mattarella, 76, a former constitutional court judge, to exercise a calming influence on the incoming government.
As government yields dropped, Nick Kounis and Aline Schuiling of ABN Amro Bank NV in Amsterdam cited “hopes that President Sergio Mattarella would take up a more assertive and active role in restraining the policies of the incoming populist coalition government.”
Mattarella, who appoints both the premier and government ministers, will make his decision amid concern about Conte’s lack of political experience and his ability to contain personal and political rivalry between Di Maio and Salvini. The two leaders have agreed a government program which pledges a spending spree and demands a review of European Union treaties.
The New York Times earlier questioned Conte’s CV, which says that he stayed from 2008 to 2012, every summer and “for periods of not less than a month, at New York University, to perfect and update his studies.”
The newspaper quoted an NYU spokeswoman as saying Conte’s name did not show up in records as either a student or faculty member, adding it was possible he attended one or two-day programs for which the school does not keep records.
Five Star said in a statement that Conte in his CV “clearly wrote that he perfected and updated his studies at New York University. He never cited lessons or masters degrees attended at that university.”
Premier Pick
With both La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera suggesting Conte’s premiership was in doubt and Di Maio was back in play, Five Star insisted the law professor was still its candidate. “It will be Conte who proposes the government team to Mattarella,” senior Five Star lawmaker Laura Castelli told reporters, according to newswire Ansa.
Salvini too told reporters Conte was still the candidate, while reiterating that he was against the idea of Di Maio becoming premier. Italy’s political uncertainty has roiled markets earlier this week, with the 10-year yield spread over German bunds hitting the biggest gap since June. The spread narrowed to 177 points in Milan at the close on Tuesday, down some 10 points.
Di Maio and Salvini put on a united and determined front after a meeting in Rome on Tuesday. The two held “constructive” talks focusing on “the last details” before Mattarella’s decision, the League said in a statement which made no explicit mention of Conte.
Once Mattarella makes his nomination, the premier-designate will draw up a list of ministers that he has to submit to the head of state. If Mattarella approves the team, the government will be sworn in and then face a vote of confidence in the two houses of parliament.
