ROME: Italian Senator Matteo Renzi, a former prime minister, announced that his Italia Viva party is withdrawing its cabinet members from Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's coalition government.
Italy's current government is backed by a coalition between the center-left Democratic Party, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, and Italia Viva, the party that Renzi founded in late 2019, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.
Generally in these situations, the prime minister either resigns or tries to negotiate a new majority, then seeks a confidence vote in parliament, constitutional expert Michele Ainis explained to RAI News 24 public broadcaster. "It is up to the prime minister to decide what to do now," Renzi said during a nationally televised press conference. "We are ready to back a government with the same majority, but we are also ready to go to the opposition." (IANS)