The European Commission did not wish to react officially on Wednesday 21 August to the resignation, the day before, of the Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, a new step in the Italian political crisis.
We have no comments to make regarding "the latest developments in internal policy in one of our Member States", Natasha Bertaud said on behalf of the European institution, adding that she was not aware of any direct contacts between the Italian authorities and the President of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, himself convalescing (see other news).
Mr Conte's resignation officially ended the government coalition between the 5-star Movement (M5S) claiming to be anti-system and the far-right la Lega party, whose leader, Matteo Salvini, had dissociated himself from his partner Luigi di Maio and called for early parliamentary elections.
On Wednesday, in Rome, the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, initiated consultations with representatives of Italian institutions and political parties with the purpose of resolving the political crisis.
Despite mutual disagreements, the Social Democratic Partito democratico led by Nicola Zingaretti proposed to the M5S to study the possibility of forming a government around five fundamental points, including loyal membership to the European Union and a change in the management of migration flows. Other options include the formation of a "Conte II" government or a technical government.
As a member country of the euro area, Italy must submit a draft budget plan for 2020 to the European Commission by mid-October in line with European budgetary rules. Under an agreement with the Commission, Rome had avoided the opening of a debt-based excessive deficit procedure at the end of 2018, while accepting a VAT increase in 2020 and 2021 if the government coalition's flagship measures - universal income and pension reform - worsened the Italian public deficit (see EUROPE 12163/1). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)