Italian populists have picked an unknown academic to lead them into conflict on EU finance and asylum rules.
The Five Star Movement (M5S) and the League put forward Giuseppe Conte, a 53-year old law professor, to be Italy's next prime minister on Wednesday (23 May).
The president approved their man after the two populist parties came out on top in elections in March and pledged radical steps in their coalition deal.
They plan to pile on €100bn of extra debt by boosting welfa...
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.