Conte will submit his resignation to form a …

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will resign on Tuesday in an attempt to obtain a new majority after the defection of a party in his coalition. The information was confirmed by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. Conte will hand in his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinale, seat of the Head of State. Mattarella will have to accept his resignation or not, and will also be able to entrust him with the formation of a new government.

The political crisis was sparked by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who withdrew his small Italia Viva party from the ruling coalition after weeks of criticism of the handling of the health crisis and Conte’s economic plans. The Prime Minister survived a parliamentary confidence motion last week, but failed to secure a majority in the Senate, leaving his government weakened.

Since then, Conte has been engaged in tense negotiations in the hope of mobilizing independent or dissident MPs who would have finally allowed him to remain in office. But Conte had no choice but to put his tenure on the line, just like in August 2019, hoping to keep the president’s confidence.

Italian Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede is due to present a reform in the Senate this week that will surely be rejected, a setback that would have outvoted his government and forced him to resign anyway. “Conte’s calculation is that by taking the lead and thus avoiding a humiliating defeat in the Senate, he will increase his chances of securing a mandate from Mattarella to form a new government,” warned Wolfango Piccoli of the Teneo consultancy.

Shortly before the official announcement of his resignation, Parliament’s largest party, the five-star anti-establishment movement, said it would continue to support Conte. The secretary general of the Democratic Party, Nicola Zingaretti, assured that his space will also accompany the formation of a new government with the outgoing Prime Minister.