Italian President looking to overcome a political crisis

Italy is now facing a political crisis following the resignation of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. Italian President Sergio Mattarella, looking to overcome a political crisis that has brought down the government in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, said on Friday he believed the collapsed coalition could still be revived. "It is necessary to set up a government as soon as possible," Mattarella told reporters. Mattarella asked lower house speaker Roberto Fico to mediate between the estranged parties.

Conte, now acting as caretaker, was unseated when former premier Matteo Renzi withdrew his Italia Viva party from the coalition, depriving it of a parliamentary majority and throwing Italy into political limbo during the coronavirus crisis. Renzi, whose party has barely 2% of voter support, clashed repeatedly with Conte over his handling of COVID-19 and the recession, and in particular his plans for spending more than 200 billion euros ($243 billion) from a European Union fund to help Italy's virus-battered economy.He accused the prime minister of lacking strategic vision, saying he risked squandering the EU bonanza on handouts rather than long-term investments.

In the meantime, Italy's rightist opposition parties called for early elections on Friday as the way to solve the country's political crisis. League leader Matteo Salvini told reporters that we confirmed to the president our request that he consider the option of dissolving parliament and calling elections. He had a formal consultations with the head of state Sergio Mattarella. Salvini, representing a right-wing alliance of parties. He said that if the president Mattarella should try to install a government without elections each party would take its own decision on how to respond.Conte, still backed by the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the centre-left Democratic Party, is hoping to get a fresh mandate.