“The Council of Ministers will be convened for tomorrow morning at 09:00, during which the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, will communicate the will of the Ministers (the Presidential Palace) to the ministers and submit his resignation,” the statement read. He will then see President Sergio Mattarella, he added.
The resignation is a calculated step that could finally give him another chance to form a government.
Conte survived two votes of confidence in parliament last week. But he lost his ruling majority in the Senate after his predecessor, Matteo Renzi, decided to withdraw the small Italia Viva party from Conte’s governing coalition due to frustrations with the government’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic and associated economic recession.
President Mattarella can choose whether he wants to accept Conte’s resignation, and will probably invite him to try to build a new government majority. If Conte is given the mandate to form a new majority, he will have to add five more senators to his existing coalition.
Conte’s coalition, formed in 2019, is led by the center-left Democratic Party (PD) and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S). Despite major political differences, the unusual alliance prevented quick elections that could benefit the far-right league party.