Italy's
coalition-building talks have failed, leaving the country facing fresh
elections or a neutral caretaker government until the end of the year.
President
Sergio Mattarella said on Monday that those were the only two options
left after a third round of negotiations were unsuccessful.
No single party or alliance won a majority in the March general election.
The most influential parties, Five Star and The League, favour a new vote in July. Mr Mattarella has the final say.
Following
the latest round of talks aimed at forming a coalition, the biggest
single party, the anti-establishment Five Star movement, could not agree
on joining forces either with the right-wing alliance of Forza Italia
and The League or with the centre-left Democratic Party.
Previous
attempts to break the deadlock since the inconclusive result on 4 March
also came to nothing, with the parties' starting positions reportedly
remaining unchanged.
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In
a televised public statement on Monday, Mr Mattarella urged party
leaders to rally behind a "neutral government" after conceding that
there would be no coalition deal.
"We can't wait any longer," he said.
"Let
the parties decide of their own free will if they should give full
powers to a government... or else new elections in the month of July or
the autumn."
Mr
Mattarella said a neutral administration would have the responsibility
of drawing up a 2019 budget with the aim of avoiding the possible
"recessionary effects" of a scheduled increase in sales taxes later in
the year.
A
caretaker government would run until the end of the year and would then
dissolve ahead of elections to be held at the start of 2019, Mr
Mattarella added.
However, neither the Five Star movement nor The League have yet shown any interest in supporting the move.
