ROME - Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has released his list of the 39 undersecretaries for his new government, with the 5 Star Movement (M5S) getting 11 of the roles, the League nine, six for both the Democratic Party (PD) and Forza Italia, and two for Italia Viva (IV).

  The list, released on Wednesday evening, sees the representation of many parties, with members of the Democratic Centre, +Europe and Us With Italy also getting a position each. Franco Gabrielli the head of the police and new Undersecretary to the Prime Minister for the Security of the Republic, is the only ‘technical’ undersecretary.

  After the criticism of the various parties’, specifically the PD’s, lack of female nominations for ministerial roles, women take 19 of these 39 undersecretary jobs. 

  Also as part of Draghi’s commitment to guaranteeing representation of the whole country, he gave 16 positions to representatives from the South and the islands, 16 from the North, and seven to those from Central Italy. It has often been noted in the past that ministers from the North make up a large majority of the government.

  Every ministry has at least one undersecretary from a party of Giuseppe Conte’s last majority government (PD, M5S, LeU, IV) and one from the last opposition. 

  The representatives of Silvio Berlusconi’s Forzia Italia party include Giorgio Mulè, who is one of the new undersecretaries for defence. Forza Italia initially wanted Mulè, the former director of ‘Panorama’, the weekly Italian current affairs magasine, as the Undersecretary to the Prime Minister for Information and Publishing, but this decision was opposed by M5S and PD. However, another Forza Italia representative, Giuseppe Moles got the job in the end.

  Political commentators have suggested that Silvio Berlusconi having a representative in this positions could mean potential supports for Berlusconi’s media interests. Another Forza Italia representative, Francesco Paolo Sisto, was given one of the justice undersecretaries, which could be a help for Berlusconi’s various legal troubles, namely the ongoing corruption trials against him.

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