New Italian coalition government sworn in

By Baris Seckin

ROME (AA) - The new coalition government in Italy sworn in and started its duty under the premiership of technocrat Giuseppe Conte on Thursday.

In a ceremony held in Quirinale Palace with the presence of President Sergio Mattarella, Conte and other 21 ministers have taken oath.

The first Cabinet meeting of the government is expected to be held on Thursday evening.

Conte, who last week got a fresh mandate from Mattarella to form a government, announced a coalition of the populist Five Star Movement (M5S) and center-left Democratic Party (PD) on Wednesday, while shutting out of power right-wing leader Matteo Salvini.

The new Cabinet list includes 10 ministers from M5S, nine from PD, and one from the far-left Free and Equal party.

A total of seven women ministers will serve in the new Cabinet.

Luigi Di Maio, leader of Five Star, was appointed foreign minister, while Lorenzo Guerini of PD took the role of defense minister and the Interior Ministry went to Luciana Lamorgese, the former governor of Milan.

Tensions within the previous coalition between the far-right League Party and Five Star had mounted over an infrastructure project involving a high-speed rail link with France.

Both parties blamed each other for the deep divisions in the coalition, prompting Salvini to call for new elections and end the coalition government.

Five Star and the League party had formed a coalition government in June 2018 under the leadership of Conte.

* Writing by Fatih Hafiz Mehmet in Ankara