Government, wait over: Conte at the Quirinale in the afternoon

The premier designated by Lega and M5s is summoned to the Quirinale. Giuseppe Conte will go up to Colle at 17.30 for a direct conversation with the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella.

After 48 hours of silence, the Head of State makes his move. Despite pressure from the parties, he will have the last word on the appointment of the Prime Minister, even if, according to rumors, Conte's assignment will arrive already tonight. However, Mattarella could ask him for guarantees on his margins of action at the helm of the new government, but also to present his own government program, as envisaged by the Constitution.

"Today the third Republic begins, I told you, I promised", commented Di Maio shortly after the summons, "Obviously the president decides but if he has been summoned.…", he added. “He kept the whole system – said the grillino leader – even if the prime minister in charge decides on the ministers”. “Citizens take a step forward, politicians take a step back: but Giuseppe Conte will be a prime minister in political charge”.

The "turning point" of the Quirinale comes after 24 hours of fire for Giuseppe Conte, in which the candidate for prime minister had to face the crossfire on the information contained within your resume, considered untruthful after the fact checking carried out by newspapers from all over the world.

His candidacy was once again in doubt, but this morning Luigi Di Maio squared off on his name by excluding any hypothesis of an about-face: "Conte is and absolutely remains the candidate for prime minister of the 5-star Movement and the League”, reiterated the political leader of the M5s. "The name will remain this", added Lorenzo Fontana of the League.

Despite the confirmations, however, an explicit request to the two majority parties to confirm the jurist's name also filters out from Colle.

In the meantime mount the controversy over the words that Alessandro Di Battista addressed to the President of the Republic, considered disrespectful by many: "the President of the Republic is not a notary of the political forces but neither is he the defense attorney of those who oppose the change, also because it would be a lost cause". A heavy attack that immediately became a political case.

So if Conte's road to Palazzo Chigi seems to have gone downhill again, again the knot on Paolo Savona needs to be resolved, which Lega and Cinque Stelle would like to lead the Ministry of Finance. In a book to be released on May 25, the economist does not hide his doubts about the European monetary union. "I have never asked to leave the euro - he writes, but to be prepared to do so if, for whatever reason, we were forced willy-nilly". He words that worries the markets, but which also cause great concern in the corridors of the Quirinale.