Italy House Speaker given mandate to sound out new gov't majority
ROME, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Italian President Sergio Mattarella has given House Speaker Roberto Fico an exploratory mandate to verify whether the same governing majority that existed before Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte resigned on Jan. 26 is still workable.
In a brief televised statement, Fico thanked Mattarella for entrusting him with the job of sounding out the members of the preceding government coalition -- the center-left Democratic Party, the Five Star Movement, and the centrist Italia Viva party led by Matteo Renzi, a former prime minister.