The armchair mosaic

Government, still six boxes to be filled. Wednesday possible Cdm

For the leadership of Consob, Federico Brakes, undersecretary at the Mef, remains favourite

by Rome Editorial Staff

19 April 2026

Meloni: "Ne' dimissioni ne' rimpasto, governiamo per cinque anni"

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

The boxes to be filled in
Reference to Consob
Oppositions: reshuffle without going through parliament

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

After many postponements Wednesday could be the good date to close the matter of the still vacant seats in the government. The Council of Ministers has not yet been convened but it is plausible that indications will emerge from the meeting to fill the six boxes left empty (three in FdI, one Lega and one FI). The dossier is also intertwined with that for the leadership of Consob where the name of the undersecretary at the Mef Federico Freni remains in pole.

The boxes to be filled in

To be named is the replacement for the demissionary Andrea Delmastro at Justice: for now, the delegations have been distributed between Francesco Paolo Sisto (FI) and Andrea Ostellari (Lega).

The newly appointed Minister of Tourism Gianmarco Mazzi, called to replace Daniela Santanchè, has left his post as Undersecretary for Culture. A ministry where Vittorio Sgarbi's seat has been vacant for some time. At first, the Italian azure Matilde Siracusano was considered a candidate to replace Mazzi at the Ministry of Culture, but she seems destined to remain at her post as undersecretary at the Ministry for Relations with Parliament together with the Lega Nord Giuseppina Castiello.

The Ciriani-led ministry could be taken over - but as deputy minister - by the former leader of the Azzurro group in the Chamber of Deputies Paolo Barelli, whose entry into the government is taken for granted. In a ministry without portfolio there would not be for him the issue of incompatibility with the role of president of the Italian Swimming Federation, which he has never wanted to give up.

For three years, the box of Augusta Montaruli at the University has been uncovered: the Fdi deputy had resigned in February 2023 in the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling that made final the one-year and six-month sentence for misuse of funds of the Piedmont council group, from 2010 to 2014, when she was a regional councillor. More recent, on the other hand, are the exits of Massimo Bitonci, a Lega Nord member (Imprese e Made in Italy), who at the end of December became regional councillor for Trade and Economic Development in Veneto, and of the Forza Forza member Giorgio Silli, who resigned in February from his post as undersecretary for Foreign Affairs to take up the post of secretary general of the International Italo-Latin American Organisation (Iila).

Breaks to the Consob

In the mosaic of appointments there is also the Consob question. In pole for the leadership of the Stock Exchange's control authority is the name of undersecretary Freni on whom, however, there would be an in-depth examination in view of the fact that, as a member of the Mef, he is among the authors of the capital market reform

Majority sources point out several precedents of executive members who have passed on to the authority: the outgoing Paolo Savona himself as well as Giuseppe Vegas who also had the same delegations currently held by Freni. In both cases,' it is pointed out, 'the Antitrust Authority, which assesses incompatibilities under the Frattini law, considered that the rule did not apply to independent authorities. In short, a 'clear and consolidated' picture, it is argued.

"There is a huge question of institutional expediency. Consob is a guarantee and supervisory authority," say M5s with Mario Turco, however, "which, precisely at this stage, must be shielded from any element that could even raise doubts about its full autonomy, independence and impartiality

Should Freni be appointed to the Consob, the current undersecretary of Labour Claudio Durigon (Lega) would be the candidate to replace him at the Mef, who, in turn, could leave the post to the Italian azure Chiara Tenerini.

Oppositions: reshuffle without going through parliament

The oppositions also attack on the extent of a replacement made without going through the Chambers. we are faced with a de facto reshuffle," points out the Dem group leader in the Senate, Francesco Boccia, "carried out without declaring it in order to evade the formal steps and the necessary political confrontation in Parliament and in the country. The usual intolerance of the right to rules and political transparency".