On 7 December 2016, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced his resignation, following the rejection of his proposals to overhaul the Senate in the 2016 constitutional referendum. A few days later, on 11 December 2016, President Sergio Mattarella asked Paolo Gentiloni, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, to form a new government. On the following day Gentiloni was officially sworn in as the new head of the government.