Italy's technocrat government is pretty much dead on arrival
Cottarelli is believed to present his list of ministers to Italian president Mattarella later at 1430 GMT, but the idea of a technocrat government isn't going to last for long.
The new government is surely going to fail a vote of confidence in parliament, and fresh elections are due in the fall in Italy. Currently, the prospects of said elections ending up the same way as it did in March is pretty much a certainty - with Five Star and Lega to be the two leading parties once again.
And that's what the market isn't liking at the moment. We're going to end up back at square one with Salvini having to push what is seen as a euroskeptic team to lead the government, with Paolo Savona slated for the finance/economy minister role.
Here was Mattarella's full explanation to veto Savona over the weekend - in what was the move that triggered all of this.
The real fear now is that Mattarella's decision could put Five Star and Lega in a better position heading into the fresh elections and that could lead to an uproar against Italy's pro-European establishment. Just the prospect of a potential populist government in Western Europe is enough to cause some real jitters in the market, can you imagine then what would happen when they solidify their place as Italy's new government?
------
