Fresh Italy election by 'start of 2019': New PM-designate

Italy's new prime minister-designate Carlo Cottarelli said Monday he would hold an election by the start of 2019 at the latest after being given the mandate to form a government by President Sergio Mattarella.

“I’ll present myself to parliament with a programme which - if it wins the backing of parliament - would include the approval of the 2019 budget. Then parliament would be dissolved with elections at the beginning of 2019,” Cottarelli said shortly after being named interim prime minister by Italy’s president.

“In the absence of (parliament’s) confidence, the government would resign immediately and its main function would be the management of ordinary affairs until elections are held after the month of August,” Cottarelli added. (Reporting by Steve Scherer, editing by Giulia Segreti)

But he added that if, as is likely, his government is not approved by parliament, new elections will be held "after August".

The decision to appoint Carlo Cottarelli to form a stopgap administration sets the stage for elections that are likely to be fought over Italy’s role in the European Union and the euro zone, a prospect that is rattling global financial markets.

The euro zone’s third-largest economy has been seeking a new government since inconclusive March elections, with anti-establishment forces abandoning their efforts to form a ruling coalition at the weekend after a standoff with the president.

President Sergio Mattarella had vetoed the parties’ choice of a eurosceptic as economy minister, prompting the Five Star Movement and far-right League party to accuse the president of betraying voters and to drop their plan to take power.