Forza Italia (FI) leader Silvio Berlusconi said Tuesday that a final deal has been reached on the new government team following Monday's air-clearing talks with Brothers of Italy (FdI) leader and likely future premier Giorgia Meloni, saying Italy's first woman prime minister had agreed to appoint former Senate Speaker Elisabetta Casellati as justice minister.
The alliance partners made peace on Monday after days of tension over the formation of the new cabinet that culminated in FI not backing FdI bigwig Ignazio La Russa in the Upper House vote that saw him elected the new Senate Speaker last week.
But it initially seemed that not everything had been resolved as Meloni reportedly wanted an MP from her party, former prosecutor Carlo Nordio, to take over the justice ministry, barring Casellati.
But Berlusconi told reporters: "Will the justice minister be Nordio? No, I'll meet him today but the former Senate Speaker Elisabetta Casellati is there (for that post)," "There is an agreement on this.
"Meloni suggested Nordio, saying he is very good and maybe you'll get convinced that he's the right choice.
"But I'm already convinced that the right choice is Casellati because I know what needs doing for justice reform".
The media billionaire, 86, said 45-year-old Meloni "has said yes to Casellati as justice minister".
However, La Russa subsequently appeared to cast doubt on the solidity of the appointment, saying "Casellati can have various roles, not just justice minister".
And FI no.2 Antonio Tajani, a former European Parliament President, said there were "still two or three days" to discuss the justice appointment.
Nordio, 75, made his name in fighting the Red Brigades leftist terrorists in the 70s and 80s and was a lesser-known member of the Clean Hands team that brought down Italy's political establishment in the early 1990s, before turning his attention at the end of his career towards corruption in leftwing cooperatives. Casellati, 76, was the first woman Speaker of the Upper House when she was elected in 2018.
She had served as Undersecretary of Health and Justice in previous governments.
In 2022, she was nominated as candidate for President of Italy by the centre-right coalition but Brothers of Italy nominated Nordio in a contest that eventually saw President Sergio Mattarella grudgingly re-elected to a second term.
Some Italian analysts had said FI should not get the justice ministry due to an alleged conflict of interests stemming from the media magnate and three-time former premier's longstanding and ongoing legal woes.
Under the final deal, FI will reportedly get five ministries including foreign minister for Tajani.
The League will reportedly get the same number including outgoing industry minister Giancarlo Giorgetti as economy minister.
And FdI, despite being the leading force with three times the votes of either of its partners, will get about the same number too, with a couple of posts including interior minister being filled by non-party technocrats.
Tajani and former interior minister and League leader Matteo Salvini, who is tipped to be transport minister, will be the two deputy premiers, Berlusconi said.
The League will also get the regional autonomy brief, for veteran former minister Roberto Calderoli, reports say.
Berlusconi said Meloni had asked him to be her advisor and he had gladly accepted.
He also denied ever writing that the FdI leader was "presumptuous, over-bearing, arrogant and offensive" as shown in his written notes captured by a daily's screenshot during the La Russa election debate.
Berlusconi said they were not addressed at Meloni and that he had written a "positive" judgment on her on another sheet.
As well as Tajani as foreign minister and Casellati as justice minister, FI will have ex EU minister Anna Maria Bernini at civil service, climate change skeptic Gilberto Pichetto Fratin at environment and ecological transition, and pathology lecturer Gloria Saccani at universities, Berlusconi said.
Green and Italian Left (SI) MPs Angelo Bonelli and Eleonora Evi said that having Casellati at justice would be a return to the worst of pasts, the conflict of interests of the tailor-made laws, with a member of Forza Italia who as justice undersecretary had no problem in declaring that Ruby (the underage prostitute in the bunga bunga trials) was the niece of Egyptian President (Hosni) Mubarak" (in order to clear Berlusconi).
The former premier was eventually cleared because judges ruled he could not have known Ruby (Heartstealer) aka Karima El Mahroug was underage when he paid her for sex.
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