Berlusconi/Meloni Tensions Evident; Lega's Fontana Takes Speakers' Chair

Tensions remain evident between incoming Italian PM Giorgia Meloni and the leader of her coalition partners Forza Italia former PM Silvio Berlusconi. A picture purported to be Berlusconi's notes describing Meloni as "opinionated, overbearing, arrogant and offensive" have been dismissed by the former PM as a 'fake', but the battle over ministerial positions has exposed notable divisions.

• Giovanni Capoccia, Professor of Politics at the University of Oxford: "Cracks in the right-wing majority in Italy seem serious: [...] Meloni had reached a broad agreement with Berlusconi's FI and Lega on the distribution of ministerial posts, but she then trashed the deal after FI's defection in the vote for the President of the Senate. So things are back to square one. [...] Berlusconi wants the Ministry of Justice and Meloni ruled that out. He also wants a ministerial post for a loyal supporter, and that has been denied too. The right will form a government eventually--power is a big incentive. But cracks in the majority [...] are already visible. Not a stable situation".
• Lorenzo Fontana, a right-winger from Matteo Salvini's League (Lega) has been elected as the next speaker of the Chamber of Deputies in a move that has drawn outrage from the centre and left of Italian politics.