Image copyright AFP Image caption Paolo Gentiloni has been foreign minister since October 2014

Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni has been asked to form a government by the country's president.

President Sergio Mattarella has been looking for a replacement for centre-left PM Matteo Renzi, who resigned after losing a referendum on constitutional reform last week.

Mr Gentiloni, 62, is a loyalist from Mr Renzi's Democratic Party.

Correspondents say that if he is successful in rallying support a government could be formed in days.

In a brief acceptance speech, Mr Gentiloni said he realised the urgency of forming the government to reassure the country.

He said he would work within the framework of the previous administration, making it likely that he will reappoint several ministers.

Paolo Gentiloni

Born to an aristocratic family, has the title Nobile

Worked as a journalist on an environmental magazine

Elected to parliament in 2001

Communications minister from 2006-08

Appointed foreign minister in 2014

Mr Gentiloni faces a banking crisis and a rise in popular support for anti-establishment and eurosceptic parties.

Opposition parties have ruled out joining a national unity government, with the populist Five Star Movement saying it will boycott a parliamentary approval vote, due to take place on Wednesday, because it would have not legitimacy.

The party has called for immediate elections, currently due to be held in May 2018.

However, President Mattarella has said the current electoral rules must be revised so both houses of parliament are synchronised.

Image copyright EPA Image caption Mr Gentiloni (left) and Matteo Renzi (right) are close allies

The law was changed to the so-called "Italicum" system last year to give the leading party a parliamentary majority through bonus seats in the lower Chamber of Deputies. But there has been no such change in the Senate, which is elected by proportional representation.

Senate reforms formed part of the package of reforms put to Italian voters last Sunday, while the legitimacy of the system for the Chamber of Deputies is to be ruled on in January.

Mr Renzi's plans for constitutional reform were rejected by a margin of 59% to 41%, prompting his decision to stand down.

More than a stopgap leader?

by James Reynolds, BBC News, Rome

Until a few days ago, Mr Gentiloni's name was not even mentioned as a possible prime minister. Paradoxically, this apparent lack of prominence and ambition may have been what persuaded others to support him. After a period of high drama, Italy often picks a workmanlike, conflict-free figure as a new leader.

Image copyright EPA Image caption Italy has chosen a "workmanlike, conflict-free figure"

In theory, Mr Gentiloni has up to 14 months in office before elections must be held. But many here believe that polls will be held before then.

What's more, the opposition Five Star Movement already accuses Paolo Gentiloni of being a puppet of his predecessor, Matteo Renzi. Mr Renzi remains the leader of the Democratic Party, of which Mr Gentiloni is a member.

Italy's new prime minister will now have to prove that he is his own man - not just a stopgap for someone else.

Italian media: 'Paolo the Cold'

by BBC Monitoring

Most Italian commentators regard Paolo Gentiloni as a very different character from his predecessor, Matteo Renzi, but some wonder if he will be able to be his own man.

Fabio Martini, writing in La Stampa, describes Mr Gentiloni as "Paolo the Cold", saying that "seething passions" are alien to him and that "in style and character, he is the complete opposite of Matteo Renzi".

Gerardo Pelosi writes in Il Sole 24 Ore that although Mr Gentiloni appears so far to have preferred to keep a low profile, in the two years that he has served as foreign minister he has won respect in European and world capitals.

La Repubblica's Goffredo De Marchis says that "time will tell if he has what it takes to be a leader, or if he will govern according to the wishes of Renzi and the Democratic Party".</s>Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni was, on Sunday, chosen by President Sergio Mattarella as the next Prime Minister of the country. Mr. Gentiloni has pledged to get straight to work on forming a new coalition with the same Democrat Party-led majority. The latest development follows Mattteo Renzi’s resignation as Premier on December 7 after his nearly three-year-old government suffered a stinging defeat in a referendum on reforms. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni was chosen Sunday to be the country’s next premier and pledged to get straight to work on forming a new coalition with the same Democrat Party-led majority.

“I’m aware of the urgency to give Italy a government in the fullness of its powers, to reassure the citizens and to face with utmost commitment and determination, international, economic and social priorities, starting with the reconstruction of the quake-hit areas,” Mr. Gentiloni (62) said.

Fellow Democrat Matteo Renzi has been staying on as premier in a caretaker role since he offered his resignation on December 7 after his nearly three-year-old government suffered a stinging defeat in a referendum on reforms.

The populist 5-Star Movement and other opposition forces have been clamouring for an early election, but Italian President Sergio Mattarella noticed that Mr. Renzi’s outgoing government still commands a majority in Parliament.

On Saturday, the day before he gave Mr. Gentiloni the mandate at the Quirinal presidential palace, Mr. Mattarella has said Italy’s next government must deal with several urgent priorities, including bad loans that are burdening several Italian banks, an economy that has resisted growing for years and an ambitious construction program for several towns destroyed by earthquakes.

The President also noted there was wide political consensus for a rapid overhaul of Italy’s electoral law before Italians vote in a new election.

Mr. Gentiloni said he would make the President’s priorities his top concerns too, as he puts together his proposed Cabinet. He told reporters he considered Mr. Mattarella’s entrusting him with the task of forming a new government “a high honour, and I’ll try to carry out the task with dignity and responsibility.”

Mr. Gentiloni had emerged as a likely pick after the President held three days of consultations with political and parliamentary leaders.

While serving as Foreign Minister in Mr. Renzi’s centre-left coalition, Mr. Gentiloni had lobbied for an international support to help end years of violence and fighting in Libya. The North Africa nation’s lawless coast has turned into a vast launching pad for smugglers, who collect millions in profits as they send hundreds of thousands of migrants out in unseaworthy boats toward Italian shores.

Mr. Gentiloni also spearheaded Italy’s demands that the Egyptian government work to learn who tortured and killed a young Italian researcher in Cairo this year.

The 5-Star populists, who back letting Italians decide if they want to stay in the 19-nation shared euro currency, want elections soon, to capitalize on the angry mood of voters who have punished ruling parties in much of Europe.

It is the President’s call

It is up to the Italian President to decide if or when to dissolve Parliament and call for a new election ahead of a spring 2018 due date.</s>Aged 62, Gentiloni is a former student radical who comes from a well-to-do Roman family with aristocratic roots. (Photo: AFP)

Rome: Paolo Gentiloni, the man named on Sunday as Italy's new Prime Minister, is a trusted ally of his predecessor Matteo Renzi, to whom he owes his rise to the summit of national politics.

Even before he was named, opponents were suggesting the silver-haired foreign minister had been hand-picked by Renzi as a stand-in leader who is dull enough not to pose any threat to the outgoing premier's comeback hopes.

Renzi, who resigned last week after a crushing referendum defeat, remains leader of his Democratic Party (PD) and has made it clear he plans to fight the next election as its candidate to head a new government.

Aged 62, Gentiloni is a former student radical who comes from a well-to-do Roman family with aristocratic roots.

He has long been associated with the Green wing of Italy's left but has steadily moved towards the centre ground over the course of a long, unspectacular career.

He was made foreign minister in October 2014, having been plucked from obscurity to replace Federica Mogherini following her appointment as the European Union's foreign policy chief.

It was an appointment that raised eyebrows at the time.

The man chosen by Renzi was virtually unknown to the public. He had no experience in foreign affairs and his ministerial career had been limited to a stint as communications minister in Romano Prodi's 2006-08 government.

His bid, in 2013, to become the mayor of Rome ended with him finishing third in a field of three in the left's primaries.

Political analysts concluded Gentiloni was being rewarded for his loyalty to Renzi.

Turin daily La Stampa described him as "A Renzi-ite even before Renzi himself,", noting how Gentiloni had often provided the outgoing premier with valuable intellectual cover in internal PD battles over the party's direction.

Both men were members of La Margherita (The Daisy), a short-lived centre-left party, in the early 2000s and both were close to and influenced by Francesco Rutelli, a veteran Green and former mayor of Rome.

Gentiloni is married to an architect. The couple have no children and he is said to spend his spare time readying newspapers and books and pursuing his passion for fine wine.

He plays tennis and is an opera buff but friends say he has had little time for leisure activity of late as a workaholic who likes to read his ministerial briefs in full.

Frequently described as a former journalist, Gentiloni does have a press card. But his reporting and editing experience was nearly all for political publications. Like Renzi, he has been a full-time activist or an elected official for most of his working life.

A descendant of a famous Italian count, he has the right to call himself a noble and, according to media reports, lives in a Rome condominium building occupied mainly by his relatives.

As a political science student in the mid-1970s, Gentiloni was involved with fringe far-left groups, including one which described itself as being inspired by Maoism.

Like many of his generation, the flirtation with revolutionary politics was short-lived. He is now considered as being in the mainstream of the broad church PD.

As foreign minister he forged a close working relationship with US Secretary of State John Kerry, helped by the Renzi government allowing US airbases in Italy to be used for airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Italy.

After spells as editor of Green magazine "The New Ecology" and as spokesman for Rutelli during his time as mayor of Rome, Gentiloni was elected as a PD deputy in 2001.

He continued to harbour ambitions of becoming mayor of Rome. But after his failure to win the candidacy in 2013 a quiet retirement appeared to be beckoning before he got the call from Renzi two years ago.

He is widely seen as having done a good job as foreign minister as Italy has played an unusually proactive role on the world stage, notably in relation to Libya, and in building bridges with Iran after the lifting of international sanctions.</s>Paolo Gentiloni, the man named Sunday as Italy's new prime minister, is a trusted ally of his predecessor Matteo Renzi, to whom he owes his rise to the summit of national politics.

Even before he was named, opponents were suggesting the silver-haired foreign minister had been hand-picked by Renzi as a stand-in leader who is dull enough not to pose any threat to the outgoing premier's comeback hopes.

Renzi, who resigned last week after a crushing referendum defeat, remains leader of his Democratic Party (PD) and has made it clear he plans to fight the next election as its candidate to head a new government.

He has long been associated with the Green wing of Italy's left but has steadily moved towards the centre ground over the course of a long, unspectacular career.

His bid, in 2013, to become the mayor of Rome ended with him finishing third in a field of three in the left's primaries.

Turin daily La Stampa described him as "A Renzi-ite even before Renzi himself", noting how Gentiloni had often provided the outgoing premier with valuable intellectual cover in internal PD battles over the party's direction.

Both men were members of La Margherita (The Daisy), a short-lived centre-left party, in the early 2000s and both were close to and influenced by Francesco Rutelli, a veteran Green and former mayor of Rome.

Gentiloni is married to an architect. The couple have no children and he is said to spend his spare time readying newspapers and books and pursuing his passion for fine wine.

He plays tennis and is an opera buff but friends say he has had little time for leisure activity of late as a workaholic who likes to read his ministerial briefs in full.

A descendant of a famous Italian count, he has the right to call himself a noble and, according to media reports, lives in a Rome condominium building occupied mainly by his relatives.

As foreign minister he forged a close working relationship with US Secretary of State John Kerry, helped by the Renzi government allowing US airbases in Italy to be used for airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Italy.

After spells as editor of Green magazine "The New Ecology" and as spokesman for Rutelli during his time as mayor of Rome, Gentiloni was elected as a PD deputy in 2001.

But after his failure to win the candidacy in 2013 a quiet retirement appeared to be beckoning before he got the call from Renzi two years ago.

He is widely seen as having done a good job as foreign minister as Italy has played an unusually proactive role on the world stage, notably in relation to Libya, and in building bridges with Iran after the lifting of international sanctions.</s>Italian President Sergio Mattarella asked Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Sunday to try to form a new government, giving him a mandate to lead Italy out of a political crisis caused by the resignation of Matteo Renzi.

Gentiloni, a 62-year-old former journalist and Renzi loyalist, is set to be Italy’s fifth prime minister in as many years and the fourth in a row to take office without winning a national election.

He immediately began consultations with politicians to form a government which will have the pressing tasks of writing a new electoral law and propping up Italy’s fragile banks.

“I am aware of the urgent need to give Italy a government with full powers, to reassure our fellow citizens, to confront our international, economic and social priorities with the maximum commitment and determination,” he said minutes after Mattarella conferred the mandate.

Italy’s social and political divisions were laid bare during campaigning for a Dec. 4 referendum on constitutional reform which was roundly rejected, prompting Renzi to resign because he had staked his job on it.

All major parties have called for elections as soon as possible. But before any vote can take place, Mattarella has said Italy needs a new electoral law to replace one that applies only to the lower house and could be declared illegitimate in January by the Constitutional Court.

Elections are not due until 2018 but could be called as soon as parliament finishes rewriting the electoral law. Gentiloni said he would “facilitate, if possible, the parliamentary forces’ task of quickly defining new electoral rules.”

Commentators said that if his consultations go well, he could return to the presidential palace as early as Sunday night or Monday morning to present his list of proposed cabinet members to the head of state.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s resolved tonight or tomorrow. The important thing is that the markets already know that with Gentiloni there will be no radical change,” said Maurizio Caprara, a commentator for Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Gentiloni said his government would move “within the same framework” as the outgoing government but Renzi’s Democratic Party (PD) is itself severely divided between backers of the former prime minister, such as Gentiloni, and opponents.

Once his cabinet is sworn in by the president, the government will then face votes of confidence in both houses of parliament. The ruling coalition, headed by the PD, has a majority in both so Gentiloni could win the votes in time to attend a European Union meeting on Thursday as prime minister.

The next prime minister will have to deal quickly with the country’s third-largest lender, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which may need state intervention to avoid collapse.

Opposition parties such as the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right group refused to take part in national unity government.

“Enough of governments that descend from above, enough of Renzi’s avatars ... the Italian people can’t stand this any more!” Alessandro Di Battista, a 5-Star leader, wrote on Twitter.</s>Paolo Gentiloni, Italy’s newly appointed prime minister, is nothing if not a “safe pair of hands”.

It is indicative that when commentators go looking for a nickname for him, they come up with the hardly flattering terms of “Mr Camomile” and “Mr Prudent”.

When 62-year-old Gentiloni had finished his “job interview” on Sunday morning with president Sergio Mattarella, he could have walked home within five minutes had he so wished as Gentiloni was born into the noble lineage of the Gentiloni Silverj who just happen to have a palazzo round the corner from the Quirinale, the presidential palace.

A far-left student activist, Gentiloni later worked in journalism, concentrating on environmental issues. It was in that guise that he met his first, and arguably most significant, political mentor in the former mayor of Rome and one time prominent Green, Francesco Rutelli.

Having served in the Rome administration under Rutelli, the prime-minister designate then joined him and others in the 2002 foundation of the “Margherita” or Daisy party, which comprised many members of the left wing of the old Christian Democrat party.

Via the Margherita, Gentiloni then ended up in government in the 2006-2008 executive of Romano Prodi, serving as communications minister.

In that role, he tried (and failed) to contain the media dominance of tycoon and Forza Italia leader, Silvio Berlusconi, when attempting to force one of Mr Berlusconi’s three terrestrial channels, Rete 4, onto a satellite package.

At that time also he called Mr Berlusconi “one of the main problems of the Italian news firmament”, pointing out the anomalous situation whereby, when he was in power, Berlusconi controlled 80 per cent of terrestrial TV in Italy.

Ironically, one of the key factors in his appointment on Sunday was the fact that he now has the blessing of Berlusconi, who sees him as an obstacle in the path of his one time ally and now loathed rival, Matteo Renzi.

If Gentiloni owes much to Rutelli, he arguably owes even more to Renzi. He had the political nous to hitch himself onto the Renzi bandwagon early in the rise and rise of the young Florentine.

He got his reward for that in October 2014 when he was appointed foreign minister in place of Federica Mogherini, who had moved on to become an EU foreign affairs representative.

In all of his time in political life, Gentiloni has by and large steered well clear of controversy. His public profile was so limited that when he contested the Rome mayoral elections of 2012 as the Renzi-sponsored PD candidate, he earned just 15 per cent of the vote as opposed to the 55 per cent returned by the winner, his party colleague Ignazio Marino.

As foreign minister for the last two years, he has earned himself a reputation as a very safe pair of hands. His prudent handling of two of the most delicate issues that came across his desk, namely the killing of Italian student Giulio Regeni in Cairo early this year and the fate of two Italian marines arrested in India in 2012 on homicide charges, frustrated the family relatives but it may in the end have yielded results, in terms of ongoing dialogue.

As prime minister, Gentiloni represents a serious contrast with his predecessor. Under him, Italy may have moved from the power point presentation to the biro pen, from the impetuous to the careful, from reform to immobility and from the shout to the whisper. In the present circumstances, this may not be an entirely negative development.</s>Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni began his first week as Italy’s Prime Minister – the country’s sixth leader in a decade – amid predictions his tenure could last only a few months as the country’s rising populist parties demand a snap election.

Mr. Gentiloni, 62, was appointed caretaker prime minister by Italy’s President and head of state, Sergio Mattarella, on Sunday and was due to select his cabinet on Monday. He was widely expected to leave the Finance Minister, Pier Carlo Padoan, in place to deal with the disaster at Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), the third-largest Italian bank whose failure could spread contagion throughout the European Union.

The appointment of Mr. Gentiloni came a week after his predecessor, Matteo Renzi, resigned after the referendum on constitutional change went overwhelmingly against him and his centre-left Democratic Party, plunging Italy into the political unknown. Mr. Gentiloni’s government will be the 64th since the end of the Second World War.

Read more: Italy’s Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni tapped to be next PM

Economic insight: Lack of jobs, not a populist wave, brought down Italy’s Renzi

The main beneficiary of the referendum’s No vote was the Five Star Movement (M5S), the anti-establishment party which has taken the lead in the polls and could form the next government. M5S’s victory would make Italy home to the first populist party in a large EU economy, triggering a potential existential crisis for a region already suffering from Britain’s vote to leave the EU. M5S, led by former comedian Beppe Grillo, has pledged to hold a referendum on the euro.

Mr. Gentiloni will have a narrow mandate – prevent MPS from blowing up and leading the government to the next election, which cannot happen until a new electoral law is passed. “Designing new electoral laws will not be easy and not quick, and a new government will be in its full capacity soon,” said Lorenzo Codogno, chief economist at London’s LC Macro Advisers. “So my guess is that the next political elections will be as scheduled in the spring of 2018.”

But other observers of the perennially messy Italian political scene think an election could happen far earlier, probably this spring. Analysts at Citigroup note that Italian elections, for traditional reasons, always happen between February and June and there is not much sense having one in the early autumn, given the long Italian August-September holiday.

Mr. Renzi, who remains as leader of the Democratic Party, which still holds a majority in parliament, is already plotting his comeback and is thought to favour a spring election even though the polls are working against the centrist parties. An Ipsos poll published Sunday in Il Corriere della Sera newspaper put M5S at 31.5 per cent, against 29.8 per cent for the Democratic Party.

Mr. Renzi may be gambling that the popularity of M5S has peaked and that the new electoral law, which should be passed in early 2017, would make it hard for M5S to gain a majority. Mr. Grillo has, so far, refused to form a coalition and Italy’s typically fractious governments usually govern by coalition. “For us, this government has an objective to change the electoral law and go to elections as soon as possible,” Ettore Rosato, the Democratic Party’s chief whip in parliament’s lower house, told Il Corriere on Sunday.

But political consultant Francesco Galietti, chief executive officer of Rome’s Policy Sonar, thinks Mr. Renzi wants a quick election for fear that time will allow M5S to build on its political momentum, potentially putting the young party into an unassailable position in 2018. “His trajectory is downward, so the more he waits, the worse it gets for him.”

Mr. Gentiloni, an ally of Mr. Renzi who is highly unlikely to challenge him for leadership of the Democratic Party, is considered a sober, steady hand.

In his youth, he flirted with revolutionary politics and, later, became close to Italy’s small Green Party. At one point, he was editor of the Green magazine The New Ecology. An opera buff who is married to an architect, he is the descendant of Italian nobility, is fluent in English and has embraced centrist politics in recent years. He was elected to the lower house of parliament in 2001.

As foreign minister under Mr. Renzi’s three-year premiership, Mr. Gentiloni won respect from Italy’s allies, especially the Americans. He supported U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in the creation of a national unity government in Libya. But he is not in favour of strong economic sanctions against Russia even though he has not supported Russia’s bombing of Aleppo, in Syria. “The military solution is not a solution in Syria,” he said earlier this month. “One cannot build a negotiation and a transition from the rubble of a city.”

Mr. Gentiloni’s most pressing job will be to support Mr. Padoan in stabilizing MPS, which is in dire need of fresh capital and needs to raise about €5-billion to cover shortfalls. MPS shares, which have lost 83 per cent of their value in the last year, rose 5 per cent on Monday, after chief executive officer Marco Morelli expressed confidence that a privately funded recapitalization plan was still possible.

If it fails, a state-sponsored bailout would emerge as the most likely option, though it would force losses onto the holders of MPS’s subordinated bonds, many of whom are retail investors with much of their savings tied up in the bonds.</s>Italian foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni is expected to be asked to head a new government on Sunday.

One week after prime minister Matteo Renzi was heavily defeated in a reform referendum and after three days of consultations with all the parliamentary parties, state president Sergio Mattarella will call on Mr Gentiloni on Sunday to replace Mr. Renzi.

Right from the start of this government crisis, 62-year-old Mr Gentiloni has been high on the shortlist of possible candidates for prime minister.

President Mattarella has been been keen to appoint a new prime minister with the minimum of delay both because of impending European and international commitments and also to avoid a lengthy crisis which could cause problems for Italy’s sluggish economy and its shakey banking system.

At the end of his consultations last night, president Mattarella said: “Our country needs a fully functioning government immediately. Ahead of us there are a series of commitments, deadlines and events which must be respected...European and international events...Amongst the highest priorities (in Italy)...there is the relief work for those fellow citizens who were hit by the earthquake (in central Italy this summer)...”

Mr. Gentiloni, who is a member of Mr. Renzi’s Partito Democratico (PD), must now formally test the parliamentary pulse in order to ascertain whether or not he can call on a working majority. Until he is assured of this, he will most likely accept the position of prime minister “with reserve”.

In all probability, however, the new prime minister will inherit very much the same centre-left, PD dominated majority which underwrote Mr. Renzi’s executive from February 2014 until last week. Not only that but also key figures in Mr. Renzi’s cabinet such as finance minister Pier Carlo Padoan, interior minister Angelino Alfano, arts minister Dario Franceschini, cabinet undersecretary Luca Lotti and government spokesman Fillipo Sensi are all expected to form part of his government team.

In the handling of this crisis, President Mattarella has come up against irreconcilable differences between the wishes of some parties and the current legal and constitutional reality. In the wake of Mr. Renzi’s heavy loss last Sunday, opposition parties such as the Five Star Protest Movement and the Northern League immediately clamoured for a snap general election. This was not possible, argued the president.

This is because, in the wake of the referendum, Italy currently finds itself in the anomalous situation of having two different electoral laws and systems for the Senate and the Lower House. The president, who himself has served on the constitutional court, argues that until Italy has one “homogeneous” electoral system, there can be no general election.

The electoral law issue is further complicated by the fact that the law, the Porcellum, which currently applies to the Senate has already been ruled unconstitutional. Furthermore, the Italicum, the law introduced by Mr. Renzi and applicable in the Lower House, is due to come before the Constitutional Court next month when, in all likelihood, it too will be ruled unconstitutional.

Therefore, one of the major priorities of the new government will be to rush homogeneous electoral legislation through parliament. Given the complex and inevitably controversial nature of such a bill, it is unlikely to see it through parliament before early next summer. This in turn means that no general election could be held before next autumn, late summer.

At that point, given that this legislature ends in the spring of 2018, Mr. Gentiloni might well see his government through to that date. In the meantime, president Mattarella hopes that Mr. Gentiloni can get form his executive and be sworn in this week, in time for Thursday’s European Union summit in Brussels.</s>The Latest on Italy's political crisis (all times local):

Italy's foreign minister, Paolo Gentiloni, says he has accepted a presidential mandate to try to form a new government and serve as premier.

Gentiloni told reporters minutes after receiving the mandate from President Sergio Mattarella that he'll go straight to work trying to form a new government with the same Democratic-led coalition majority.

If he succeeds in forming a coalition that can win a required confidence vote in Parliament, the 62-year-old Gentiloni will replace fellow Democrat Matteo Renzi, who resigned last week as premier after a bitter defeat in a voter referendum on reforms. Renzi has been staying on in a caretaker role.

Opposition parties, including the populist 5-Star Movement, have been clamoring for a new election.

Italy's presidential palace says Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni has been asked to serve as premier and form the country's next government.

The announcement was made after Gentiloni met Sunday with Italy's head of state, President Sergio Mattarella.

The 62-year-old Gentiloni, a Democrat like Matteo Renzi, had emerged as a likely pick after Italy's president held three days of consultations with political and parliamentary leaders.

Renzi quit as premier last week after losing a reforms referendum.

Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni has been summoned to the presidential palace on Sunday and appeared poised to receive a mandate to try to form a new government.

President Sergio Mattarella said Saturday night he wants a new government to rapidly be in place, after Matteo Renzi resigned last week following a stinging defeat on a reforms referendum.

The 62-year-old Gentiloni, a Democrat like Renzi, had emerged as a likely pick for Mattarella after the president held three days of consultations with political and parliamentary leaders.

Mattarella has reminded political leaders that Italy faces several urgent problems including a possible government bailout for the Italian bank Monti dei Paschi di Siena, which direly needs to raise new capital, and the reconstruction of several Italian towns destroyed by earthquakes in recent months.</s>Italian President Sergio Mattarella summoned Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni to the presidential palace on Sunday, in a strong indication that the head of state has chosen him to try to form a new government.

Caretaker Prime Minister Matteo Renzi resigned last week after losing a referendum on constitutional reform on which he has staked his job.

If, as expected, Gentiloni is formally given the mandate, he will begin consultations with political forces to form the next government.
Paolo Gentiloni becomes the new Prime Minister of Italy.