Giuseppe Conte – Italy’s premier designate

Giuseppe Conte, a law professor with scant political experience, has been picked as the candidate for prime minister by Italy’s anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the far-right League

Five Star leader Luigi Di Maio (above) and League leader Matteo Salvini
(far right) both ruled themselves out of top job

Appointment of Giuseppe Conte (centre) must be approved by Italy’s head of state – President Sergio Mattarella

Aug 8, 1964: Giuseppe Conte is born in Volturara Appula in southern region of Puglia – bedrock of 5-Star support

1988: Graduates from La Sapienza University in Rome after studying law. Continues his education at Yale (U.S.), Sorbonne (France) and Cambridge University (UK)

Career: Professor Conte teaches law at Florence University and LUISS private university in Rome, where he lives

Politics: Left-leaning, Conte is said to be close to Five Star, saying “ideological frameworks of the 20th century are no longer appropriate”

Coalition government: Top cabinet positions will likely see Salvini become interior minister – to oversee curbs on immigration – and Di Maio become minister for economic development, to introduce universal income for poor, a signature Five Star policy



Sources: Financial Times, Reuters Pictures: Associated Press, Newscom © GRAPHIC NEWS