Giuseppe Conte to take the reins as Italian prime minister as stalemate ends

Giuseppe Conte will be sworn in on Friday (Francesco Ammendola/AP) Credit: AP/Press Association Images

Italy’s president has asked politically inexperienced law professor Giuseppe Conte to be the premier who will head Italy’s first populist government.

The president’s office announced on Thursday that Mr Conte had accepted the role and would be sworn in Friday afternoon with Cabinet ministers.

Mr Conte read the list of ministers and told reporters in a brief statement: “We will work with determination to improve the quality of life of all Italians.”

The announcement indicated that President Sergio Mattarella had accepted all of the ministers proposed by the anti-EU 5-Star Movement and League on their second try.

The populists’ choice for a eurosceptic economy minister was the sticking point that led their first attempt to form a government to fail last weekend.

Five-Star Movement leader Luigi Di Maio and League leader Matteo Salvini came up with a compromise earlier on Thursday that led the president to postpone trying to install a technical government until a new election could be held.