Italy’s PM Conte Faces Removal
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The fate of Italy's government is to be decided on Tuesday with Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte expected to resign after far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini pulled the plug on the dysfunctional coalition.
Conte is due to speak in the Senate on Tuesday, following a week of the fallout from Salvini's dramatic decision to back out of the alliance on August 8, plunging the eurozone's third-largest economy into turmoil.
Salvini's anti-immigrant League party has been soaring in opinion polls during months of squabbling over key policy decisions with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S).
After Conte makes a speech, widely expected to be scathing of Salvini's behavior, he could then offer his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella.
If he does not, Salvini will push for a vote of no-confidence, Al Jazeera reported.
Both scenarios could put an end to Italy's 65th post-war government, just 14 months after coming to power, and officially open the way for consultations to find a replacement.
The political crisis has raised concerns about the Italian economy, whose debt ratio at 132 percent of gross domestic product is the second-biggest in the eurozone after Greece.
