ROME (AP) – Italy’s president promised Saturday he’ll decide “in the next hours” about who to tap as the next premier, saying the country needs a new government as soon as possible to tackle problems, like troubled banks and quake-struck towns needing reconstruction.
Matteo Renzi has been staying on as a caretaker premier following his resignation Dec. 7 after voters rejected his government-backed reforms, ending his nearly three-year center-left coalition.
“Our country needs, in the briefest of times, a government in the fullness of its functions,” Italian President Sergio Mattarella told reporters.
He was sympathetic to a chorus of calls from the populist opposition 5-Star Movement and others, including from Renzi’s own Democrats, for a reform of Italy’s complicated electoral laws so Italians can vote for their own leader.
Among those being touted as possible choices to lead the country are Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, a staunch Renzi supporter, and Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan, an economist.