Italian President Sergio Mattarella on Wednesday named law professor Giuseppe Conte as Italy's new prime minister.

 

意大利总统塞尔吉奥·马塔雷拉周三任命法学教授朱塞佩·孔特为新任总理。
 

 

Conte was put forward by the rightwing League and the populist Five Star Movement, the two top vote-getters in Italy's inconclusive March 4 election, as their choice for prime minister earlier this week.

 

"The president of the Republic has conferred a mandate¹ to form a government on Professor Giuseppe Conte," presidential secretary Ugo Zampetti said after the president and the professor met for almost two hours.

 

The relatively² obscure academic aged³ in his early 50s, who teaches private law at Florence University and has zero experience in politics or public administration, will lead a coalition⁴ seeking radical⁵ tax cuts, generous welfare spending, and a roll-back in pension reforms.

 

Conte's candidacy hit a snag Tuesday after international media reported that he had inflated⁶ or misrepresented some of the claims on his lengthy⁷ curriculum. However, the League and the Five Stars stood by him.

 

The next step is for Conte to come up with a cabinet line-up and to discuss it with Mattarella, possibly at the end of the week. 

 

After that, the new government must win a confidence vote in each house of parliament -- the 315-member Senate and the 630-member Chamber⁸ of Deputies.

点击收听单词发音