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Report: Italian PM-designate Conte names MEP Gualtieri as new finance minister

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Report: Italian PM-designate Conte names MEP Gualtieri as new finance minister

Italian Prime Minister-designate Giuseppe Conte has named veteran European lawmaker Roberto Gualtieri as the country's new finance minister, Bloomberg News reported.

Gualtieri is the chair of the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, a position he has held since 2014.

Conte's new coalition government is set to propose an expansionary 2020 budget, subject to approval from the European Commission, while cutting taxes on labor and avoiding a sales-tax hike.

It is also expected to set a minimum wage and demand a review of EU fiscal rules.

Market reaction to Conte's second turn as prime minister remained positive, with Italian bonds climbing for a third day amid news that members of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement on Wednesday voted 4-1 in favor of forming a coalition government with the center-left Democratic Party, the Financial Times reported.

"If Rome also moves in the right direction in terms of structural reforms and strikes a conciliatory tone towards Brussels, expect Brussels to accept some fiscal overshoot and creative accounting by Rome," wrote economist Florian Hense of Berenberg Economics, adding that favorable bond market conditions and higher than expected tax revenues may make it easier for Italy's government to get approval for its 2020 budget from EU executives.