Conte Cabinet

Italy prepared to say farewell to former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi Wednesday, with thousands of people expected at the billionaire tycoon's state funeral in Milan.

The ceremony for Berlusconi, who died Monday aged 86, will be held in the city's Gothic Duomo cathedral and shown live on big screens in the square.

The ministers responsible for transport in Greece and Italy hope to hold a face-to-face meeting in the near future, following a call between them on Friday.

During the discussion, Giorgos Gerapetritis and Matteo Salvini confirmed the common will to strengthen interstate relations in the field of transport, state-run news agency AMNA said.

ROME - Serbian Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Goran Vesic met with Italian Deputy PM and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini in Rome on Tuesday.

After the meeting, Vesic said that, in the period to come, the two countries would work together on abolishing transit permits.

Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni was named Italian prime minister on Oct. 21, becoming the first woman to head a government in Italy.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis agreed to push for more solidarity in the European Union over the migrant crisis.
Mitsotakis, who took office on July, met with Macron in Paris on Thursday. He said the migrant crisis must not weigh only on the countries that are on the front line like Greece, Italy and Spain.

Spain and four other EU countries have agreed to accept migrants from the Open Arms rescue ship, EU authorities said today, cited by Reuters and BTA. 

Italy faced a government crisis on Aug. 8 after Interior Minister Matteo Salvini of the right-wing League party called for a new election, saying his party's coalition with the populist 5-Star Movement had collapsed over policy differences.

Rights activists express solidarity with Carola Rackete, the German captain of the Sea-Watch 3 rescue ship, at the Italian Embassy in Athens, on Wednesday. Accused of breaking through an Italian naval blockade in a rescue of more than 40 migrants, Rackete was released from house arrest on Tuesday by a judge who said she had been carrying out her duty.

The Strasbourg court recognized Italy's right not to accept the "Sea Watch 3" humanitarian ship with rescued migrants. The ship, which has been in the Mediterranean for 14 days, has asked to land on the Italian coast.

The European Court of Human Rights rejected the request of the crew of the ''Sea Watch 3'' ship to land in Italy.

Coalition leaders in Italy have agreed on the need to avoid EU disciplinary measures because of the excessive debt and the worsening budget deficit. That became clear late last night at a meeting of the Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte with his runners-up and government ministers - the leaders of the League and the 5-star Movement  parties Matteo Salvini and Luigi di Maio.