With Matteo Renzi's resignation formally announced just after midnight local time yesterday following the rout in the Italian referendum, the prime minister met with Italian president Sergio Mattarella to discuss the terms of his resignation. However, it appears that Renzi's departure may not be as clear cut as some had expected, and as Ansa reports, Renzi may delay his resignation following a request by the president to hold the post until the Senate Budget Law is passed, which could take place as soon as later this week, or - this being Italy - may stretch quite a bit longer.
More details from Reuters:
Italian President Sergio Mattarella told Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Monday to put his planned resignation on hold until parliament had approved the 2017 budget, which could be done as early as Friday. After a meeting with Renzi, Mattarella's office said in a statement that the prime minister had told him he could no longer remain in power.
The president told him he should stay in place until the budget was passed to prevent emergency funding rules from kicking in on Jan. 1. Once the budget was passed, he could hand in his resignation, the statement added.
The Ansa report as google translated:
Matteo Renzi was up at the Quirinale by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella after the Council of Ministers called on the outcome of the referendum vote. In the CDM would have confirmed, according to relate multiple sources, the intention to resign policy. But the formalization of the resignation will explain the same sources, only after the approval of the maneuver in the government's intentions should take place in the shortest possible time, perhaps as early in the week. The hypothesis more accredited so far - therefore - is that Renzi can remain until the approval of the Budget Law to be launched in the Senate very soon, already by Friday. The assumption, therefore, is that of a trust 'technical'. One option that has as its precondition the freezing of the resignation of Matteo Renzi until approval of the law. The process could also be further accelerated if the Senate is on an agreement to bring forward the date of the expiry of the amendments in committee and not to submit any proposal for amendment. A similar scenario was already practiced in 2011 with the Berlusconi government.
But on assumptions of this type comes the No Forza Italy - "The strange hypotheses circulating about a possible freezing of the Renzi government crisis, with the accelerated approval of the budget bill through even in so-called" technical trusts "are totally impassable. The No in the referendum is a vote of no confidence Renzi and his government activity as a whole. " I say in a joint statement the leaders of Forza Italy in the Senate and the House, Paolo Romani and Renato Brunetta.
The President of the Council in the morning he went to the Quirinal to an interview of more than an hour with the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella.
The head of the State in a note said that "We are in front of us commitments and deadlines which the institutions will have to ensure in any case the respect, providing answers to the height of the problems of the moment". "Italy is a great country with a lot of positive energy in it. This too will mean that the political climate, despite the necessary dialectic, is marked by serenity and mutual respect." "The high voter turnout, registratasi in the referendum yesterday, is the testimony of a solid democracy, a passionate country, capable of active participation".
Meanwhile, the EURUSD continues its surge, and is now up 300 points higher from the overnight lows on the latest vicious short squeeze.