Italy’s Conte not planning on resigning to form new government: government source – UPDATE

ROME, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is not planning on resigning with a view to forming a new government, a senior government source said on Monday.

Earlier, several Italian newspapers reported that Conte was set to hand in his resignation to the head of state this week and then put together a new, broader based coalition.

Asked if this was Conte’s intention, the source said: “no”.

Earlier, national daily La Repubblica, reportat that Giuseppe Conte was close to resign to then later form a new government that can count on a wider majority/

“My aim is to find an agreement that gives a clear political perspective to the government until the end of the term”, Conte said, according to the La Repubblica newspaper.

After surviving a vote in the Senate on Tuesday, Conte appealed to centrist and unaligned Senate lawmakers outside the coalition to join his minority government’s ranks but few have responded.

The premier needs a majority to push through legislation to tackle one of Europe’s worst coronavirus epidemics and the economic crisis it has triggered. (Reporting by Stefano Bernabei, writing by Giulia Segreti; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)