Italy's new government sworn in

By Ahmet Gencturk

ANKARA (AA) – Italy’s new government was officially sworn in on Sunday.

Along with the country’s first-ever woman premier, Giorgia Meloni, 24 Cabinet ministers, including six women, took their oaths of office before President Sergio Mattarella in Rome, reported the state-run news agency ANSA.

Meloni, 45, vowed during the ceremony to serve her country with pride, ANSA reported.

After officially succeeding former Premier Mario Draghi, she is expected to lead the first meeting of her new cabinet on Sunday afternoon.

Giorgia Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy Party won a plurality of the vote in the Sept. 25 general elections, and she formed a right-wing coalition government on Friday.

The new government includes Matteo Salvini's populist League and the center-right Forza Italia, led by former Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

Italy, which has the EU’s third-biggest economy, is a member of NATO and the G-7, and enjoys close diplomatic, commercial, military, and cultural relations with its Mediterranean neighbor Türkiye.