Italy: Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte resigns
Giuseppe Conte, in power since 2018, has stood down after one of his governing partners pulled out of the coalition. The former law professor will try and form a new government to avoid a snap election.
Giuseppe Conte s minority government only narrowly survived two votes of confidence last week
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte stood down on Tuesday amid criticism of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
President Sergio Mattarella confirmed he had accepted Conte s resignation. The prime minister held a Cabinet meeting earlier this morning to inform the government of his plans.
Conte, in power since 2018, quit after ex-PM Matteo Renzi pulled his Italia Viva party out of the governing coalition.
Italian Prime Minister seeks formation of new government
Italian Prime Minister seeks formation of new government
Rome, Jan 26 (Prensa Latina) Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte presented his resignation on Tuesday to the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, to whom he will propose the establishment of a new government supported by a broader parliamentary base. Before the meeting with Mattarella, Conte presided over a meeting of the Council of Ministers to report on his decision, according to a brief statement issued by the Chigi Palace.
The Prime Minister resigns due to the impossibility of gaining new followers in parliament to regain the absolute majority in the Senate, lost after breaking with the government alliance of the organization led by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte tenders resignation, in calculated move amid coronavirus crisis
elisfkc2 / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte handed in his resignation on Tuesday, in a tactical political maneuver that he hopes will allow him to build a new coalition.
Italy was thrown into a fresh political crisis last week when Conte faced two confidence votes. He survived but lost his governing majority in the Senate after his predecessor, Matteo Renzi, withdrew his small Italia Viva party from the ruling coalition, citing frustrations with the government’s management of the pandemic and a recession.
Conte handed his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella on Tuesday, according to the presidential palace, which said in a statement that the President had not immediately accepted it.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte resigned from office on Tuesday, two weeks after a key coalition partner quit his government over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic and an economic downturn.
Conte quit in the hope to be granted a fresh mandate by the head of state, President Sergio Mattarella, to form a new government after the coalition rupture left him without a majority in the Senate.
Mattarella is expected to hold two days of formal consultations with all the parties this week before deciding what to do next.
The president will start consultations with party leaders on Wednesday afternoon, a statement from his office said, adding that Conte had been asked to stay on in a caretaker capacity as the talks continued.