Government, Foti sworn in as minister: he will have Fitto's delegations

Tommaso Foti, FdI's House group leader, is the new minister for European Affairs, Cohesion Policies and the NRP. He was sworn in today at the Quirinale: he is the successor of Raffaele Fitto who resigned on Saturday to take up his new post as Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms and executive president of the new European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen.

The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, has signed the decree accepting Fitto's resignation and with the same decree, at the proposal of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (received at the Hill) has appointed Foti as minister. In his place as president of the Fdi deputies will go Galeazzo Bignami, current deputy minister of Infrastructure and Transport.

'Tommaso is a politician of great experience and ability, among the best resources Fratelli d'Italia has today. He has a long parliamentary career behind him and, as group leader" of Fdi in the Chamber "has been able to demonstrate in this legislature his value and competence, leading the main majority party in Montecitorio": this was stated by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni addressing Tommaso Foti "the most heartfelt congratulations, mine personally and those of the entire government" after being sworn in as minister. "He is a militant, passionate and consistent, who has dedicated his life to the service of his community and the nation from a very young age. Minister Foti picks up the baton from Raffaele Fitto, the new Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, and I am certain that he will be able to work with the same determination and thoroughness. For the good of Italy and the Italians'.

In order to fill the vacated box, Prime Minister Meloni has thus decided not to unpack the dossiers entrusted to Fitto so far and instead choose a single successor within a tight timeframe, aiming not at a technician but at a politician, obviously an exponent of Fratelli d'Italia, the premier's party.

It has not been easy, say the well-informed, to find the right profile to replace Fitto, so much so that for weeks it was assumed that several figures would be identified, to whom the various delegations would be entrusted, except that Pnrr and Cohesion from the outset were imagined to go hand in hand. Among the many names circulating are the current head of the services (and G7 sherpa), Elisabetta Belloni, the former foreign minister in Mario Monti's government and now Fdi MP Giulio Terzi di Sant'Agata and Fdi MP Edmondo Cirielli, the current deputy foreign minister. Among the hypotheses also circulating is that of Marco Osnato, the party's economic manager and chairman of the Finance Committee in Montecitorio.