Italian President asks Renzi to delay resignation until budget passed by parliament

Record ID: 75825

  • Title: Italian President asks Renzi to delay resignation until budget passed by parliament
  • Date: 5th December 2016
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (DECEMBER 5, 2016) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE ITALIAN AND EUROPEAN UNION FLAGS FLYING OUTSIDE OFFICE MEDIA SCRUM OUTSIDE OFFICE ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER MATTEO RENZI LEAVING PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE IN CAR EXTERIOR OF PRESIDENTIAL PALACE STATUE AND FLAGS OUTSIDE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE GUARDS OUTSIDE PALACE PEOPLE LOOKING OUT OF WINDOW RENZI ARRIVING AND ENTERING PRESIDENTIAL PALACE IN CAR FIVE-STAR MOVEMENT POLITICIAN AND VICE PRESIDENT OF THE LOWER HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT, LUIGI DI MAIO, WALKING DOWN ROAD SMILING AND BEING APPLAUDED BY PASSERS-BY
  • Embargoed: 20th December 2016 18:57
  • Keywords: Italy Matteo Renzi referendum resignation
  • Location: ROME, ITALY
  • City: ROME, ITALY
  • Country: Italy
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015BLZB5Z
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi met with President Sergio Mattarella on Monday (December 5) to discuss his resignation after suffering a crushing defeat in a referendum over constitutional reform, tipping the euro zone's third-largest economy into political turmoil.
    Renzi held a brief, final cabinet meeting in the prime minister's office late in the afternoon before heading by car to the Presidential Palace on the nearby Quirinal Hill. In the meeting which lasted about thirty minutes, Renzi agreed not to tender his resignation until after the budget has been passed, which is expected in the next couple of days.
    Mattarella will consult with party leaders before naming a new prime minister - the fourth successive head of government to be appointed without an electoral mandate, a fact that underscores the fragility of Italy's political system.
    The decision by Renzi to quit after just two-and-a-half years in office deals a blow to the European Union, already reeling from multiple crises and struggling to overcome anti-establishment forces that have battered the Western world this year.
    Renzi's emotional, midnight resignation announcement sent the euro lower and jolted stock and bond markets on concerns that early elections could follow, possibly paving the way for an anti-euro party, the 5-Star Movement, to come to power.
    A smiling 5-Star politician and Vice President of the lower house of Parliament, Luigi Di Maio, was applauded by passers-by as he walked next to the prime minister's office on Monday evening.
    It is unclear if Renzi will have enough support in his Democratic Party (PD) to remain party leader - a role that could give him a say in who becomes the next prime minister.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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