Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi submitted his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella on Thursday.
Gatekeepers News reports that his resignation has plunged the European Union’s third-largest economy into fresh political turmoil.
Draghi’s resignation comes after efforts to bring his national unity government fell apart, setting the country on course for an early election and hitting financial markets
In a statement, the presidential palace said Mattarella, who accepted the resignation, is scheduled to meet with the speakers of Parliament on Thursday afternoon.
Draghi, an unelected former central banker who has led a broad coalition for 18 months first tendered his resignation last week after the 5-Star movement withdrew its support in a parliamentary confidence vote on a package designed to tackle Italy’s cost-of-living crisis.
Draghi had previously said that he would not lead a government that did not include 5-Star.
The populist 5-Star Movement failed to back him in a confidence vote on measures tackling the high cost of living, saying he had not addressed their core concerns.
Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella, however, rejected that resignation and urged him to stay and find a solution.
On Wednesday, Draghi’s coalition crumbled when three of his main partners snubbed a confidence vote he had called to try to end divisions and renew their fractious alliance.
The political crisis has up-ended months of stability in Italy, during which Draghi had helped shape Europe’s tough response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and had boosted the country’s standing in financial markets.
On Thursday, the FTSEMIB, Italy’s main stock market, was down more than 2.5% after the country’s government was left on the brink of collapse.
