Giuseppe Conte: The Life and Career of the Prime Minister of Italy 

Created: 2022-08-17Updated: 2022-08-17, 10:48 p.m

Giuseppe Conte was sworn in as Prime Minister of Italy on June 1, 2018.

© picture alliance/Michael Kappeler/dpa

From "Mr Nobody" to Corona crisis manager: the unprecedented political career of Giuseppe Conte.

• Giuseppe Conte

  was sworn in

  as

  Prime Minister of Italy on

  June 1, 2018

  and held office until February 13, 2021.

• Due to his political inexperience, the lawyer was considered “

  Mr Nobody

  ”, who, as a

  compromise candidate

  , formed a

  coalition

  between the Euro-sceptical

  Five Star Movement

  and the

  right

  Lega

  made possible.

• As a result of the

  coronavirus crisis

  , Conte was able to prove himself as a

  crisis manager

  and scored points with the population.

was born on

in the

municipality of Volturara Appula, in the province of

.

His family belongs to the middle class.

His

, was an employee of the local community, while his

, was a primary school teacher.

After his family moved to

, the future

school

.

After leaving school he studied

at the

in

.

he completed his exams.

This was followed by various stays abroad in countries such as the

and

.

According to Conte, he attended universities such as the

in Paris or

in

.

He has also taught at institutions such as the

and the

.

The lawyer is currently

at the

and at the

in Rome.

Conte also runs a

in the Italian capital.

Until a few years ago, nobody would have guessed that the university professor and legal expert would one day hold the most important political office in Italy.

The non-party Conte did not show any political ambitions for a long time.

A few years before his appointment as prime minister, he was elected to a panel of judges, which put him in touch with the populist and Eurosceptic

.

Giuseppe Conte: Rise to Prime Minister of Italy

Giuseppe Conte

was part of the

presented by the

's lead candidate ,

, ahead of the

March

.

He was proposed as

.

Since the election result did not produce a party capable of governing, the

and the Five Star Movement negotiated a joint coalition.

Despite major ideological differences, the parties presented a government program in

.

Lead candidates Di Maio and

beat that

then proposed Conte as Prime Minister.

Salvini wanted to prevent Di Maio from becoming head of government and instead called for a

.

Mattarella agreed and commissioned Conte to form a

.

However, after only four days, Conte returned the government contract.

The reason for this was the dispute between the coalition partners and Mattarella over the appointment of the Eurosceptic economist

as

.

The President had rejected the appointment because he feared negative financial repercussions for Italy.

According to the law, however, the Italian cabinet must be approved by the President before it can take up government business.

When new elections seemed inevitable, an agreement could still be reached.

Instead of Savona, the moderate economist

was proposed for the post of finance minister.

At the same time, Mattarella accepted Conte's cabinet list and sworn in him and his team of ministers on

.

The

and

also gave their blessing to the cabinet.

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Giuseppe Conte: resignation and political comeback

After just over a year, on

,

announced his resignation as

.

This was preceded by disputes between the

and the right -wing

, after Interior Minister

had declared the coalition unworkable and threatened a

of no confidence in Conte.

Conte, on the other hand, accused Salvini of irresponsibility and selfishness.

The Lega "soiled 14 months of intensive government work" by insisting on new elections from which Salvini could possibly emerge as prime minister.

Before that, the right had been able to increase significantly in polls.

President

accepted the lawyer's resignation, but at the same time gave him the task of continuing government business for the time being.

Mattarella also decided against dissolving parliament in order to avoid new elections.

Instead of joining forces with the Lega, the Five Star Movement now joined forces with the

.

The coalition with the Social Democrats was again to be led by the independent Conte, who was commissioned by Mattarella to assemble a new cabinet.

On September

Conte presented his cabinet list, which was officially approved.

The Five Star Movement had its members vote on the coalition agreement on its Internet platform.

Giuseppe Conte: The coalition is finally failing

On January

, two ministers resigned from the ranks of former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's ruling Italia Viva splinter party in Rome.

There had been disagreements over the allocation of coronavirus aid, but that wasn't the only point of contention.

With the

.

First, the prime minister won a vote of confidence in the government's Chamber of Deputies and also in the Senate.

But he no longer achieved an absolute majority, which is why Giuseppe Conte officially submitted his resignation on January 26, 2021.

On February 13, 2021, Conte resigned and

as prime minister.

Many suspected that Giuseppe Conte would return to his previous jobs as a law professor and attorney.

Instead

and announced that he wanted to reorganize the party.

Originally founded by comedian Beppe Grillo, the movement was considered erratic.

Having Guiseppe Conte, Italy's second most popular politician after Draghi, at the helm was a stroke of luck for many.

But the founder of the Grillo movement was apparently not satisfied with Conte's transformation and soon accused him of having no visions.

Giuseppe Conte may be gambling away his popularity

Conte may have gambled away his former

.

Because the Five Star Movement is largely responsible for the fact that

.

The movement under Giuseppe Conte left Draghi hanging in a vote of confidence in the Senate.

Head of state Sergio Mattarella had initially rejected Draghi's resignation.

But when three government parties, the Five Star Movement, the right-wing Lega and Forza Italia, refused to trust the prime minister, Mario Draghi's resignation and new elections in Italy were unavoidable.

The approval ratings of the “Cinque Stelle” were only around twelve percent in July.

After the fall of the cabinet of Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi,

.

The resignations from the party followed an important internal party decision on the parliamentary mandates: “In the coming elections you will not find anyone among the five-star candidates who has already had two mandates,” wrote party leader Giuseppe Conte on Facebook at the end of July 2022 .

So anyone who has already sat in parliament twice cannot take part in the

.

Giuseppe Conte: Peculiarities of his tenure

As a result of the

,

emerged as a

.

When the pandemic broke out in

, hardly any other country suffered more from the infectious disease than

.

In view of the shocking number of deaths, the prime minister declared a state of emergency and has ruled by

decree

.

Among other things, he imposed a three-month lockdown and entry bans from risk areas.

He also put billions into dealing with the health crisis, for which he had to take on considerable debt.

His courageous actions meant that his popularity among the population continued to rise.

It was precisely the lack of this active role that Conte had to take

for after the start of his tenure .

Due to his lack of political experience, he was also known as "Mr.

Nobody", "Signor Sì" ("Yes Man") and "accidental Prime Minister" smiled at.

The fact that he acted primarily as a middleman between the brawlers

and

was not well received nationwide.

The law professor was accused of acting too pale and merely being an accomplice and plaything for the party bosses.

His always flawless and elegant appearance also aroused ridicule.

His emotional fire speech in parliament on

against the right-wing Salvini, to whom he announced his resignation, changed his public image from one blow to the other.

Giuseppe Conte: Challenges of his tenure

Giuseppe Conte

is known for his tough course on

policy.

Since

,

had taken in over

seeking refuge by boat.

Conte and his Interior Minister

wanted to put a stop to that .

Shortly after taking office in

, he approved the

's initiative to close the Italian ports.

The ship

of the aid organizations

and

was thus forbidden to lay anchor.

This sparked wild discussions within Europe about who would take in the 600 refugees.

accused the

Italian government of violating "law and humanity" by closing ports to people in need.

Finally,

, agreed to accept the refugees.

Conte rejected the allegations of racism and xenophobia.

Instead, he pointed out that the immigration rate had "outgrown under the guise of a feigned solidarity."

In

, the Conte cabinet passed the so-called

, which significantly restricted the rights of refugees and was intended to make early deportation easier.

organizations have also been fined millions

if they bring migrants rescued in the

to Italy without a permit.

The controversial decree was toned down in

.

For example, migrants who are at risk of serious human rights violations in their home country will be able to seek humanitarian protection in Italy in the future.

Instead of a fine of up to one million euros, NGOs now only face a fine of up to 50,000 euros.

Giuseppe Conte: family and personal life

Giuseppe Conte was married to

, a

from

, for a few years

.

Their

.

However, the couple divorced a few years later.

is now in a relationship

with

, who is the daughter of entrepreneur

and Swedish actress

.

Paladino has a daughter named

from a previous relationship.

You and the politician are 15 years apart.

At times, the businesswoman accompanies Conte too

.

However, the couple is very careful to keep their personal life private.

Conte is a big fan of football club

, which he has supported since studying at

in the Italian capital.

He is

and a self-confessed follower of the popular saint

.

Through this he learned as a child to be “modest”.

The politician even carries a picture of the priest in his purse.

In 2018

, allegations were made against Conte that he had embellished his CV.

On an impressive twelve pages, the lawyer states that he has studied and taught

at such prestigious universities as

,

and

The NYU spokeswoman said the politician was neither a student nor a faculty member at the university.

He was only given permission to visit the law library.