The leader of the far-right League party on Thursday claimed that 81-year-old eurosceptic economist Paolo Savona should get the job of finance minister in the nascent populist coalition government.
“Italian voted in a certain way. We have a world-famous economist who I believe represents the views of 90 percent of Italians,” Salvini said.
“As I see it, he is the best choice,” Salvini said, while denying that the League and its anti-establishment Five-Star Movement were trying to “dictate” Savona’s assignment to the post.
Italy’s president Sergio Mattarella, who must endorse the League-Five-Star Movement’s cabinet line-up, is said to have reservations about Savona, who called Italy’s entry into the euro zone an “historic error”.
A former industry minister, Savona wants a “plan B” to be drawn up to allow it to leave the currency bloc if necessary.
The populist premier designate, law professor Giuseppe Conte held meetings with Italy’s political leaders on Thursday and is due to draw up a list of ministers for Mattarella’s approval.
On Thursday evening, Five-Star leader Luigi Di Maio told reporters the planned populist government line-up was “not ready yet”.
Italy has been in political limbo since the inconclusive 4 March national polls in which populist parties made strong gains but no single political force won a outright parliamentary majority.
Several previous rounds of talks with Italy’s parties since the March vote failed amid a mesh of seemingly irreconcilable demands. Five-Star is the biggest party while the centre-right alliance led by Salvini is the largest political bloc.
