The first female prime minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, and her cabinet were sworn in on Saturday, giving the nation its most right-wing administration since World War Two.
Ms. Meloni, the leader of the nationalist Brothers of Italy, won a resounding victory in an election last month alongside Matteo Salvini’s League and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia.
Before shaking hands with President Sergio Mattarella, the 45-year-old Meloni swore to remain devoted to the republic in front of a room decorated with frescoes and crystal chandeliers.
The national unity administration headed by former European Central Bank president Mario Draghi has been replaced by her government, the 12th of this century. It has a number of difficult difficulties to overcome, including a coming recession, rising energy costs, and how to portray a unified front in the Ukraine War.
The Russian invasion was blamed on Kyiv earlier this week, and Berlusconi revealed he had exchanged gifts and “beautiful letters” with his old buddy, Russian President Vladimir Putin. While MS Meloni has vowed support for Ukraine, Berlusconi has consistently undermined her.
After several days of hard negotiations behind the scenes, Ms. Meloni announced her team on Friday, allocating five ministries to each of her junior partners, the League and Forza Italia, while holding nine cabinet positions exclusively for her own party.
The remaining 24 members of the team, only six of them are women, are technocrats.
