Over the weekend the situation has got more uncertain in Italy after the Italian president named former International Monetary Fund official Carlo Cottarelli as Italy’s interim prime minister. The anti-establishment forces abandoned their efforts to form a ruling coalition at the weekend after a standoff with the president.
Cottarelli said on Monday that he will put together a government “very quickly” to accompany the country to fresh elections, to be held in the fall or early next year.
“I’ll present myself to parliament with a program which — if it wins the backing of parliament — would include the approval of the 2019 budget. Then parliament would be dissolved with elections at the beginning of 2019,” Cottarelli said “In the absence of (parliament’s) confidence, the government would resign immediately and its main function would be the management of ordinary affairs until elections are held after the month of Augus
t,”