MILAN (AP) — The former Italian premier who triggered the collapse of a successor's government threw his support Friday behind former bank chief Mario Draghi to head up Italy's next government,...
MILAN (AP) — Italy’s president opened consultations Wednesday aimed at identifying a sustainable coalition majority, after Premier Giuseppe Conte was forced to resign when a small party yanked its...
ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte intends to offer his resignation on Tuesday, his office said Monday, a move seen as gamble that the embattled leader will get a fresh mandate from the...
ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte worked to solidify his majority in parliament Wednesday after narrowly winning a Senate confidence vote after a junior coalition ally yanked his support...
ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte won a crucial vote in Parliament's lower house Monday night after a coalition defector's lawmakers abstained in the balloting, but he must clear a much...
MILAN (AP) — Former Italian Premier Matteo Renzi is testing his already low popularity by provoking a political crisis that could bring down Italy's coalition government at a critical juncture in...
ROME (AP) — With his center-left government at risk of collapsing, Premier Giuseppe Conte will address the Italian Parliament on how he plans to deal with the political crisis triggered by a small...
MILAN (AP) — Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has been hospitalized in the principality of Monaco to undergo medical tests for heart problems, his press office confirmed on Thursday....
ROME (AP) — A former leader of Italy yanked his party's ministers Wednesday from Premier Giuseppe Conte's government, triggering a political crisis in the middle of a pandemic that could lead to a...
MILAN (AP) — Italy’s government is facing a challenge from within after former Premier Matteo Renzi instructed lawmakers from his small party to vote against a judicial reform and told ministers...
MILAN (AP) — Former Italian Premier Matteo Renzi appealed Sunday to disillusioned members of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's party to join forces — but received a quick rebuke.
ROME (AP) — Former Italian Premier Matteo Renzi has left the ruling Democratic Party to set up a new centrist force, in a risky move that further weakens the already shaky government forged only...
ROME (AP) — Italy reported the first glimpse of progress on forming a possible government after inconclusive March 4 elections, with the latest round of exploratory talks between the populist 5-Star Movement and the center-left Democrats yielding a "positive outcome."
But the path to forming a government that can win a parliamentary majority still is long and uncertain, given the Democrats are badly divided between those willing to negotiate a deal with the 5-Stars and those opposed.
MILAN (AP) — Former Italian Premier Matteo Renzi formally resigned Monday as leader of the Democratic Party following its crushing election defeat, with the interim leader maintaining the party line of refusing a kingmaker role in a new Italian government.
ROME (AP) — Former Italian Premier Matteo Renzi on Tuesday challenged members of his defeated Democrats to publicly declare if they'll support the populist 5-Star Movement, throwing down the gauntlet as he tries to prevent his party from fracturing and backing its political nemesis.
ROME (AP) — The Latest on Italy's parliamentary election (all times local):
6:50 p.m.
Italy's ex-Premier Matteo Renzi says his center-left party will not join any government led by the anti-immigrant League party or the populist 5-Star Movement, the two victorious forces in Italy's election.
ROME (AP) — In Italy's general election campaign, Rome's uncollected garbage has become fodder for politicians — and at least one pig.
The capital's dirty streets, lined with brimming-over, nasty-smelling garbage bins, are providing a handy way to trash the performance of Mayor Virginia Raggi, arguably the most high-profile office-holder of the 5-Star Movement. The populist party is leading in opinion polls and chasing its first premiership in the March 4 vote.
MILAN (AP) — The Latest on Italy's next general election (all times local):
7:35 p.m.
The Italian government has set March 4 as the date for the next parliamentary election, formally launching what is shaping up to be a bruising campaign.
The decision Thursday was made after President Sergio Mattarella formally dissolved the sitting legislature following meetings with Premier Paolo Gentiloni and the heads of both houses of parliament.
MILAN (AP) — Both a center-right coalition backed by former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and the populist 5-Star Movement claimed momentum going into a national election next year following the results of Sicily's regional vote on Monday.
Center-right candidate Nello Musumeci garnered 39.9 percent of the vote representing four parties including Berlusconi's Forza Italia and the Northern League, with most precincts counted.
ROME (AP) — Italy's ruling center-left Democratic Party is picking up the pieces after a weekend drubbing in local elections while former Premier Silvio Berlusconi is basking in his latest political rebound and an alliance with an anti-immigrant right-wing party.
Democratic leader Matteo Renzi acknowledged internal divisions that have torn the Democratic Party apart, saying in a Facebook post Wednesday that he wanted to move beyond them to confront the issues that Italians care about.
ROME (AP) — Exit polls early Monday indicated that center-right forces, including an anti-immigrant party, were headed to victory in several key mayoral runoffs, two weeks after a first round of voting saw most populist candidates eliminated in all big cities up for grabs.
ROME (AP) — Italians and tourists alike are struggling to get around as a nationwide transport strike has forced the cancellation of Alitalia flights, the closure of subway stations and the suspension of bus service.
Huge lines formed at taxi stands in Rome and Milan, where temperatures in the low 30s (mid-80s) added to the discomfort for frustrated commuters and tourists.
ROME (AP) — Former Premier Matteo Renzi regained the Democratic Party leadership, handily winning a Sunday primary that he hopes will bolster the center-left's ability to counter growing support for populist politicians in Italy ahead of national elections.
BRUSSELS (AP) — Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi says that the European Union must fundamentally change and get closer to its citizens if it is to survive.
Renzi said in Brussels, where he is finishing his campaign to reclaim leadership of the Italian Democratic Party, that "Europe needs radical change" after last year's British vote to leave the bloc and the rise of populism across the continent.
ROME (AP) — Former Italian Premier Matteo Renzi resigned on Sunday as leader of his fractious Democratic Party in a bid to win a fresh, stronger mandate before parliamentary elections which populist political forces hope will propel them into national power for the first time.
ROME (AP) — Former Italian Premier Matteo Renzi admonished his Democratic Party on Monday to stop its internal squabbling and focus instead on defeating the populist politicians and protectionist politics gaining popularity in Europe.
Renzi repeatedly invoked the name of U.S. President Donald Trump while making a pitch to other top Democratic figures for a united front ahead of a national election that might come as soon as the spring.
ROME (AP) — Police have arrested a brother-and-sister team suspected of conducting an ambitious, years-long campaign of hacking that targeted thousands of accounts belonging to some of the leading political and business figures in Italy.
The motive of the sprawling campaign, which carried Masonic overtones, remains a mystery. But those in the crosshairs included Matteo Renzi when he was Italian premier, European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi and much of the cream of Italy's elite.
ROME (AP) — Recently drubbed by voters, Italian ex-Premier Matteo Renzi on Sunday exhorted his Democratic Party to be more humble and in synch with citizens as he eyes elections widely expected in 2017.
Renzi resigned after voters rejected a reforms referendum on Dec. 4.
ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Paolo Gentiloni has won a second vote of confidence in Parliament, paving the way for his new government to lead Italy until it holds a new election.
The Senate voted 169-99 Wednesday in favor a day after the confidence measure easily passed Parliament's lower chamber.
Gentiloni now heads to the first major international meeting of his premiership — Thursday's European Council summit in Brussels — with Parliament's backing and his government in place.
LONDON (AP) — Across much of Europe and Africa, 2016 was a year of tumult. There were seismic shifts in politics, with the falls of prime ministers David Cameron of Britain and Matteo Renzi of Italy, both of whom stepped down after losing referendums. Iceland's prime minister resigned, triggering early elections, after protests over his offshore holdings, which were revealed in the Panama Papers leak. Europe itself often seemed to be falling apart amid disagreements about migration, money and sovereignty — an impression that was confirmed when Britons voted to leave the European Union.
ROME (AP) — Premier Paolo Gentiloni easily won a vote of confidence Tuesday night from the Italian Parliament's lower chamber for his new government, overcoming opposition outrage that his cabinet and agenda essentially mirror those of his humiliated predecessor.
ROME (AP) — Italy's latest government was formed and rapidly sworn in Monday, a center-left coalition headed by new Premier Paolo Gentiloni and strikingly similar in makeup to the just-ended one that Matteo Renzi quit after a humiliating loss.
Economist Pier Carlo Padoan remains as finance minister of the new government, which inherits the same deteriorating banking crisis, stubbornly flat economy and other urgent problems that marked Renzi's tenure.
ROME (AP) — The Latest on Italy's political crisis (all times local):
1:40 p.m.
Italy's foreign minister, Paolo Gentiloni, says he has accepted a presidential mandate to try to form a new government and serve as premier.
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.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Shares in troubled Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena plunged Friday following news reports that the bank's request for more time to raise new capital from investors had been rejected by regulators. But the bank said it hadn't received official notification and was planning to hold another board meeting on Sunday.
ROME (AP) — A leader of Italy's populist 5-Star Movement is pressing for a vote on whether the country should keep the euro as its official currency, a pitch for support as the party eyes national power for the first time.
Alessandro Di Battista, one of the populist party's several leaders, said in comments published Thursday in La Repubblica newspaper that "euro and Europe aren't the same thing."