ROME — The populist parties that won Italy’s elections two months ago by demonizing the political establishment, the European Union and illegal migrants in often vulgar terms were granted the go-ahead on Wednesday to form a government, crystallizing some of the biggest fears of Europe’s leaders, who were already bracing for turbulence.
The rapid ascent of populists in Italy — the birthplace of Fascism, a founding member of the European Union, and the bloc’s fourth-largest economy — shattered the nation’s decades-old party system.
It also gave fresh energy to the nationalist impulses tugging at the Continent and moved the greatest threat to the European Union’s cohesion from newer member states on the periphery, such as Hungary and Poland, to its very core.
After 80 days of arduous talks, President Sergio Mattarella gave a mandate to form a government to the parties’ consensus pick for prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, a little-known lawyer with no government experience.