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Italian President Summons Departing Prime Minister Conte for Meeting on Thursday

ROME (Sputnik) - Italian President Sergio Mattarella has summoned Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who has recently resigned over the government crisis, for a meeting on Thursday morning, presidential spokesman Giovanni Grasso said.
Sputnik

"President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella has summoned Giuseppe Conte to arrive at the Quirinal Palace tomorrow at 9.30 a.m. [07:30 GMT]", Grasso announced after the second round of consultations held by Mattarella with the representatives of Italian parliamentary parties.

Mattarella is expected to give Conte a mandate to form a new government on the basis of political agreements between the ruling 5-Star Movement and the opposition Democratic Party (PD) reached in recent days.

Nominating Conte prime minister was one of the conditions that M5S, the largest political force in the Italian parliament, has put forward to the Democrats. They have been engaged in negotiations for several days over the matter.

Under the Italian constitution, the mandate to appoint a prime minister and, upon his recommendations, the cabinet belongs to the president.

Matarella is expected to conclude the final round of consultations with all political forces by the end of the day.

On 20 August, Conte announced his resignation thus terminating the previous coalition government led by M5S and the Lega party. Since then, President Sergio Mattarella has been engaged in consultations with all political parties toward finding a solution to the political crisis, which under Italian law can come out in one of two ways: a new government is formed or snap general election is called. Earlier this week, the M5S and PD voiced interest in joining forces to form a new coalition.

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