History-maker Giorgia Meloni becomes Italy’s first female PM

Far right figure Meloni has accepted a mandate to form a new government

Giorgia Meloni has agreed to form Italy’s next government, a presidential official said on Friday, clearing the way for her to become the country’s first woman prime minister.

Meloni, head of the nationalist Brothers of Italy, led an alliance of conservative parties to victory at the 25 September election and will take charge of the country’s most right wing government since the Second World War.

“Giorgia Meloni has accepted the mandate and has presented her list of ministers,” the presidential official Ugo Zampetti told reporters after Ms Meloni and her coalition partners had consulted with President Sergio Mattarella in his Quirinal palace.

The new government will be formally sworn in on Saturday morning, after which it will face confidence votes in both houses of parliament next week.

She emerged to tell reporters that the coalition had unanimously indicated to Mr Mattarella that she deserved the mandate to govern. The palace later announced that Mr Mattarella had summoned Ms Meloni back, by herself, to meet with the president late Friday afternoon.

“We are ready to give Italy a government that addresses the urgencies and challenges of our time with understanding and competence,” Ms Meloni wrote on Facebook.

Italy's newly appointed Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (Reuters)

Flanked by Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the Forza Italia party, and the League party’s Matteo Salvini, the 45-year-old said on the steps of the Quirinal Presidential Palace in Rome: “We have indicated myself as the person who should be mandated to form the new government.

“We are ready and we want to move forward in the shortest possible time.”

Later it was announced that Giancarlo Giorgetti, the deputy head of the League party and industry minister in the outgoing unity government headed by former central bank chief Mario Draghi, as her economy minister and said the foreign ministry will go to Antonio Tajani from Forza Italia. Mr Berlusconi’s right-hand man flew to Brussels on Thursday for talks with EU allies and assured them his party condemned Russia’s “unacceptable” invasion of Ukraine.

The administration faces an array of daunting challenges, including a looming recession in the eurozone’s third largest economy, rising energy bills and the Ukraine war.

The task of putting together the new team has proved much more turbulent than expected, with Mr Berlusconi repeatedly undermining Ms Meloni’s authority since the election.

In a note he left in public view in parliament last week, the 86-year-old Berlusconi wrote that he found Ms Meloni “overbearing... domineering... arrogant... offensive”.

Brothers of Italy leader Giorgia Meloni formed a government after meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella (Reuters)

The veteran former prime minister set off a fresh scandal this week when he told colleagues that he blamed Ukraine for the war with Russia and revealed that he had exchanged gifts and “sweet letters” with the Russian president Vladimir Putin.

These gifts were then ruled by the European Commission as breaking sanctions put in place since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Salvini is also a long-time admirer of Mr Putin.

Ms Meloni has sought to reassure European capitals that Rome will continue to support the West against Moscow.

Berlusconi, a long-time ally of Putin, told colleagues he blamed Ukraine for the war with Russia (Reuters)

She has issued a statement saying her administration would be firmly pro-Nato and pro-European. “Anyone who does not agree with this cornerstone cannot be part of the government,” she said.

However, there are growing concerns about the role of Mr Berlusconi being at the top table of Italian politics once again, when he is publicly backed Mr Putin.

Ms Meloni will make her first set-piece speech to parliament next week and must win votes of confidence in both chambers before formally assuming full powers.

(With agencies)