Giorgia Meloni becomes Italy's first female Prime Minister

The Italian Presidential Palace announced on October 21 that Italian President Sergio Mattarella received Ms. Giorgia Meloni and assigned the task of forming a new government to the leader of the center-left Brothers of Italy (FdI) party.

The new Prime Minister is expected to be sworn in at 10:00 a.m. on October 22 (local time).

Ms. Giorgia Meloni. (Source: AP)

The statement was made after President Mattarella held consultations with political parties in the center-right coalition, which won a landslide victory in the general election on September 25.

On the center-right coalition side, the parties in the coalition all agreed that the leader of the center-right FdI party, G. Meloni, would become the new Prime Minister of Italy.

Sharing on Twitter, the leader of the Forza Italia (FI) party, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi affirmed: "The center-right coalition has nominated Ms. Giorgia Meloni with President Mattarella to form a new government. I am sure that thanks to the essential support of Forza Italia, the new Prime Minister is able to lead the country towards growth."

Immediately after the announcement, Ms. Meloni also received congratulations from Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, and French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz from the European Council.

After being appointed by President Sergio Mattarella to form a new government, Ms. Giorgia Meloni announced the new cabinet list, which will be sworn in on the morning of October 22.

The new cabinet will consist of 24 ministers, one more than the outgoing government of Prime Minister Mario Draghi, including six female ministers.

Several ministries will be renamed in the new centre-right coalition government, such as the Ministry of Economic Development will become the Ministry of Business and Production in Italy; the Ministry of Ecological Transition will be called the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security; the Ministry of Agrarian Policy will be renamed the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty.

Some of the key positions in Ms. Meloni's new cabinet include: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, national coordinator of the Forza Italia (FI) party and former President of the European Parliament; Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Sustainable Change Matteo Salvini, leader of the League party; Interior Minister Matteo Pindedosi of the League party, former chief of staff of the ministry under Mr. Salvini as Minister in 2018-2019; Justice Minister Carlo Nordio, former prosecutor of the right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party.

The cabinet also includes Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, who co-founded the FdI with Meloni and Senate President Ignazio La Russa; Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti of the League party and the outgoing Minister of Economic Development; Business and Production Minister Adolfo Urso of the FdI, former Chairman of the Parliamentary Intelligence Committee (COPASIR); Agriculture and Food Sovereignty Minister Francesco Lollobrigida of the FdI; Environment and Energy Security Minister Paolo Zangrillo.

This is the most right-wing government in Italy since World War II and is facing many challenges, both domestically and internationally, due to rising energy prices./.