Italian Premier Matteo Renzi speaks during a press conference at the premier's office Chigi Palace in Rome, early Monday, Dec. 5, 2016. Renzi acknowledged defeat in a constitutional referendum and announced he would resign on Monday. Italians voted Sunday in a referendum on constitutional reforms that Premier Matteo Renzi has staked his political future on. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi vowed to resign after suffering a crushing defeat on Sunday in a referendum on constitutional reform, tipping the euro zone's third-largest economy into political turmoil.

His decision to quit after just two and a half years in office deals a blow to the European Union, already reeling from multiple crises and struggling to overcome anti-establishment forces that have battered the Western world this year.

The euro fell to 20-month lows against the dollar, with markets worried that instability in the euro zone's third largest economy could reignite a dormant financial crisis and deal a hammer blow to Italy's fragile banking sector.

Renzi's resignation could open the door to early elections next year and to the possibility of an anti-euro party, the opposition 5-Star Movement, gaining power in the heart of the single currency. 5-Star campaigned hard for a 'No' vote.

"I take full responsibility for the defeat," Renzi said in a televised address to the nation, saying he would hand in his formal resignation to President Sergio Mattarella on Monday.

Mattarella will have to embark on a round of consultations with party leaders before naming a new prime minister -- Italy's fifth in as many years -- who will be tasked with drawing up a new electoral law.

Early projections said Renzi managed to win little more than 40 percent of the vote on Sunday following months of bitter campaigning that pitted him against all major opposition parties, including the anti-system 5-Star Movement.

Italy's parties will now have to work together on the new electoral law, with the 5-Star urging a swift deal to open the way for elections in early 2017, a year ahead of schedule.

Opinion polls show Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) is neck-and-neck with the 5-Star, which has called for a referendum on Italy's membership of the euro currency.

Renzi, 41, took office in 2014 promising to shake up hidebound Italy and presenting himself as an anti-establishment "demolition man" determined to crash through a smothering bureaucracy and redraw the nation's creaking institutions.

Sunday's referendum, designed to hasten the legislative process by reducing the powers of the upper house Senate and regional authorities, was to have been his crowning achievement.

However, his reforms so far have made little impact, and the 5-Star Movement has claimed the anti-establishment banner, tapping into a populist mood that saw Britons vote to leave the European Union and Americans elect Donald Trump president.

In one relief for mainstream Europe, Austrian voters roundly rejected on Sunday a candidate vying to become the first freely elected far-right head of state in Europe since World War Two, choosing instead a Greens leader as president.

The biggest immediate loser from the 'No' triumph in Italy could be Italy's third-largest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which is bowed by bad loans and is looking to raise 5 billion euros ($5.3 billion) this month to stave off collapse.

Investors are likely to shun the operation if political chaos prevails, meaning a state intervention will be needed to save it. Several other lenders also need a cash injection to stay afloat, raising fears of a domino effect.

Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan, seen as a possible candidate to replace Renzi, sought to calm nervous markets on Friday, saying there was "no risk of a financial earthquake" if 'No' wins, though there may be "48 hours of turbulence".

A Nov. 25 Reuters poll suggested investors would expect to demand an extra 25 basis points in yield to hold Italian debt over its German equivalent if the reform is rejected, with the euro dipping 1.25 percent.

The risk to stability, meanwhile, is enough to have the European Central Bank preparing to step in if needed. </s> Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi gives a press conference at the Palazzo Chigi on December 4, 2016 in Rome (AFP Photo/Andreas SOLARO)

Rome (AFP) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced his resignation on Monday, hours after it was confirmed he had suffered a crushing defeat in a referendum on constitutional reform.

"My experience of government finishes here," Renzi told a press conference, acknowledging that the No campaign had won an "extraordinarily clear" victory in a vote on which he had staked his future.

Interior Ministry projections suggested the No camp, led by the populist Five Star Movement, had carried the vote by a margin of almost 60-40 with a near 70 percent turnout underlining the high stakes and the intensity of the debate.

Markets seemed to take Renzi's departure in their stride. Stocks and the euro fell in early trading in Asia but there were no signs of panic with the possibility of his resignation having already been largely factored in.

Renzi said he would be visiting President Sergio Mattarella on Monday to hand in his resignation following a final meeting of his cabinet.

Mattarella will then be charged with brokering the appointment of a new government or, if he can't do that, ordering early elections.

Five Star founder and leader Beppe Grillo called for an election to be called "within a week" on the basis of a recently adopted electoral law which is designed to ensure the leading party has a parliamentary majority - a position Five Star could well find themselves in at the next election.

"Democracy was the winner," Grillo wrote in a post-vote blog that marked a significant change in the party's position on the electoral law. Prior to the referendum, Five Star had been arguing for it to be revised.

Most analysts see early elections as unlikely with the most probable scenario involving Renzi's administration being replaced by a caretaker one dominated by his Democratic Party which will carry on until an election due to take place by the spring of 2018.

Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan is the favourite to succeed Renzi as prime minister and the outgoing leader may stay on as head of his party - which would leave him well-placed for a potential comeback to frontline politics at the next election, whenever it is.

On the day Austria's voters rejected a far-right candidate for president, the scale of the No victory in Italy was even bigger than opinion polls had been indicating up until November 18, after which the media were banned from publishing survey results.

Renzi had gone into the final weekend of the campaign insisting he could still win voters around but he acknowledged he had failed. "The Italian people spoke today in unequivocal fashion," he said.

Opposition parties had denounced the proposed amendments to the 68-year-old constitution as dangerous for democracy because they would have removed important checks and balances on executive power.

Spearheaded by Five Star, the biggest rival to Renzi's Democratic party, the "No" campaign also capitalised on Renzi's declining popularity, a sluggish economy and the problems caused by tens of thousands of migrants arriving in Italy from Africa.

Renzi's backers believed they were voting for overdue change.

Outside a polling station in Rome, business owner Raffaele Pasquini, 37, told AFP he had voted "Yes" in the interest of his two-year-old son.

"We are voting to try and change a country that has been stalled for far too long," he said.

After the Brexit vote and Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election, the No vote is likely to be interpreted as another victory for populist forces and a potential stepping stone to government for Grillo's Five Star.

But the campaign was not just about popular discontent with the state of Italy. Many Italians of a similar political bent to Renzi had deep reservations about the proposed changes to the constitution.

Under the proposals, the second-chamber Senate, currently a body of 315 directly-elected and five lifetime lawmakers, would have been reduced to only 100 members, mostly nominated by the regions.

The chamber would also have been stripped of most of its powers to block and revise legislation, and to unseat governments. </s> Il giorno della Reggenza: Stefano Palmieri e Matteo Ciacci i Capitani Reggenti per il prossimo semestre - Mattarella invia un messaggio per ribadire gli strettissimi legami con l'Italia.

, alle 13:10 circa, hanno assunto i poteri della suprema magistratura della Repubblica succedendo a Matteo Fiorini II ed Enrico Carattoni I.La cerimonia di insediamento – praticamente immutata nei secoli - è cominciata con l'. Alle 10, la prima apparizione pubblica dei Capitani Reggenti eletti, in abiti tradizionali, con l'ingresso nelladove, dopo il saluto da parte del Corpo Diplomatico e Consolare, il, ha pronunciato il discorso nella sua veste di decano, sottolineando la coincidenza con la Pasqua, comeed elogiando la storia della Repubblica di San Marino, sempre capace – nei secoli – di tenere alto il capo nella salvaguardia dei. In chiusura gli auguri citando Papa Fracesco: Capitani Reggenti eletti, nel loro discorso ufficiale , hanno rimarcato il, la difesa dei diritti umani, il percorso di sempre maggiore integrazione europea, intrapreso dalla Repubblica.La cerimonia è poi proseguita con ilche prima ha raggiunto Palazzo Pubblico – per l'incontro tra i Capitani Reggenti eletti e i Capitani Reggenti uscenti – poi,, officiata dal Vescovo Monsignor Turazzi e il ritorno a Palazzo Pubblico per il passaggio dei poteri, preceduto– sul tema della libertà.In aula, tra gli invitati,L'atto finale della sempre suggestiva cerimonia, lo scambio dei Collari di Gran Maestro di San Marino. Matteo Fiorini ed Enrico Carattoni hanno concluso il loro semestre,l.s. </s> Valletta (dpa) - Malta‘s Labour Party is heading towards a second mandate Sunday, with opposition leader Simon Busuttil conceding defeat within an hour of vote counting.



Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, 43, has seen off a challenge from Busuttil, 48, of the centre-right Nationalist Party, after a tense four-week election campaign. 



"It is clear that the people have chosen to stay the course," Muscat told the state broadcaster, shortly after initial counts showed his party leading by up to eight per cent. 



Official results are expected later Sunday. 



Voters cast their ballots for a new government on Saturday in snap parliamentary elections called by Muscat a year ahead of schedule amid a corruption scandal connected to the Panama Papers document leak.



Malta, the smallest member of the European Union with around 430,000 residents, holds the rotating presidency of the EU until the end of June.



Muscat‘s government has been in hot water as a result of the Panama Papers, a massive data leak out of the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca in April 2016 that detailed how money was being funneled to shell companies in tax havens.



The leak revealed that Muscat‘s Chief of Staff Keith Schembri and former energy minister Konrad Mizzi owned secret companies abroad. 



Muscat says he called a snap election to eliminate economic uncertainty, but the opposition insists claims of corruption will not dissipate through a popular vote.



The Nationalist Party also produced documents that it claims show that Schembri received kickbacks from a controversial cash-for-passports scheme, while Mizzi is said to have benefited personally from a power station project.



Muscat, Schembri and Mizzi have strongly denied the claims. </s> Frederick Florin, AFP | Italian MEP David-Maria Sassoli (S&D Group) delivers a speech after being elected new president of the European Parliament during the first plenary session of the newly elected European Assembly on July 3, 2019 in Strasbourg.

Newly-elected European Parliament President David Sassoli is a former television journalist who turned to politics 10 years ago as a centre-left MEP.

Parliament on Wednesday chose the 63-year-old social democrat to succeed another Italian, Antonio Tajani, an ally of Silvio Berlusconi from the right-wing EPP group.

His election means Italy keeps one of its three key European jobs, following the departure of European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi and of EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

The sober intellectual will not be an ally of the populist and far-right coalition currently ruling in Rome.

Born in Florence on May 30, 1956, father-of-two Sassoli studied political science before starting work as a newspaper and news agency journalist.

He began working for national broadcaster RAI in 1992, rising through the ranks to become a familiar face for millions of Italians, presenting the evening news on the main channel, of which he also became deputy-director.

In 2009, Sassoli joined the Democratic Party, newly formed from former Rome mayor Walter Veltroni's union of the two main left-wing and centre-left parties.

His celebrity meant he was elected MEP on the DP's list with a whopping 400,000 votes, sending him from Italian television screens to a new career at the European parliament.

Sassoli became head of the DP's European group and briefly attempted to enter national politics as the party's candidate in Rome's mayoral primaries but was beaten by Ignazio Marino, who went on to become mayor.

Re-elected MEP in 2014, Sassoli became parliament's vice-president in charge of the budget and Euro-Mediterranean policy.

"While in charge of this policy, I represented the European parliament at numerous official occasions, developing dialogue with institutions in Mediterranean and Middle East countries," Sassoli writes on his webpage.

He was the joint author of the Sassoli-Dijksma European railway reform which liberalised rail travel in 2017 after three years of complex negotiations.

"I have not completely abandoned my journalist career, I still collaborate in an active way with various dailies and periodicals," he writes.

He co-wrote a book with Francesco Saverio Romano about the drama of cabinet meetings during the 1978 kidnap and murder of prime minister Aldo Moro by far-left militants.

"If you put your trust in me, we will fight together for a parliament that is modern, more transparent, environmentally sound, accessible to citizens," he promised fellow MEPs ahead of the vote on his nomination.

"Nothing is possible without people, nothing is durable without institutions," he added, quoting one of the EU's founding fathers, Jean Monnet. </s> Strasbourg: The European Parliament on Wednesday elected an Italian social democrat as its new president, filling the final top EU job a day after Brussels named two women to key posts for the first time.

Italy's David Sassoli, a 63-year-old former journalist, won the absolute majority of ballots he needed at the second round of voting, seeing off German Green Ska Keller, far-left Spaniard Sira Rego and Czech conservative Jan Zahradil.

The new MEPs elected in May's European polls took office on Tuesday during a brief inaugural session before voting by secret ballot to choose Sassoli as successor to Antonio Tajani, a conservative from Italy.

The 751-seat parliament — based in Strasbourg, France — is more fragmented than ever after the May election saw solid gains by the liberals and Greens as well as the far right and eurosceptics.

The vote for president completes the roster of the EU's five most important jobs, with the others settled on Tuesday at the end of three days of negotiation among the EU's 28 national leaders in Brussels.

Sassoli's election to a two-and-a-half year term as parliament president — effectively the speaker of the chamber — is a sought-after post by the major European political families, though less coveted than that of president of the European Commission or European Central Bank.

The EU leaders on Tuesday nominated German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen as commission chief and IMF chief Christine Lagarde to head the European Central Bank, though their appointments still need confirmation.

The national leaders also suggested that the chamber's presidency should be shared for the next five years by the Socialists and Tajani's centre-right EPP. Sassoli's election completes the first part of this, but it remains unclear whether he will make way in due course.

Von der Leyen is expected to visit parliament in the afternoon to court MEPs, whose approval is needed to confirm her position as commission chief.

Germany's Manfred Weber, head of the EPP group, took note of the outcome of the Brussels summit by renouncing a run for parliament head, after having already thrown in the towel in the race for the Commission's presidency.

"It is normal, that after two and a half years of an EPP president, now it is up to the Socialists to present a candidate," Weber told a press briefing in Strasbourg.

"We are ready to check with the Socialists for a candidate and to give our support," he said.

But the Social Democratic group in the European Parliament, second only to the EPP in terms of seats, put forward Sassoli after criticising the agreements reached between the 28, which it described as "deeply disappointing".

They had wanted the commission head spot to go to their leading candidate, the Dutchman Frans Timmermans.

On Tuesday, the opening of the Parliament's session was marked by the return of Nigel Farage, a veteran of the EU chamber since 1999, whose Brexit Party MEPs turned their backs when asked to stand for the EU anthem -- Beethoven's Ode to Joy -- at the start of the session.

As Brexit has still not taken place, there are again 73 British MEPs, who will be able to sit temporarily until the divorce goes through. The new deadline is October 31.

It also saw the demonstration of some 10,000 Catalans who came to Strasbourg to support three secessionists elected at the end of May but prevented from sitting by Spanish authorities. </s> Former prime minister Matteo Renzi is widely expected to regain leadership of Italy's Democratic Party (PD) in a vote set for Sunday.

Opinion polls show Renzi is on course to defeat his two rivals, Justice Minister Andrea Orlando and Puglia governor Michele Emiliano, in the primary elections. Polls taken from April 12th-23rd all show Renzi with a strong lead, predicted to take between 57 and 72 percent of the votes.

Orlando is predicted to gain 16-29 percent of votes, with Emiliano on a projected 9-13 percent.

Most commentators in the Italian press saw Renzi as winning a TV debate between the three would-be leaders on Wednesday. In the debates, he said he would not rule out a coalition with Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, but would not reach a deal with the Progressive and Democratic Party, a group of former PD politicians who broke away from the party in February.

Renzi bowed out as prime minister in December, following a crushing defeat in a referendum on which he had staked his leadership. Since then, the country has been governed by Paolo Gentiloni's caretaker administration.

READ ALSO: Paolo Gentiloni, plucked from obscurity to become PM

He stayed on as leader of the centre-left party until February, however, when he quit, triggering a leadership battle as he vowed to win back his post.

At the time, he pointed the finger at rebels within the party, many of whom had opposed him in the December referendum.

"Schism is one of the worst words, only one is worse and that's the word blackmail. It is unacceptable for a party to be blocked by the diktat of the minority wing," said Renzi.

"You have the right to defeat us, not eliminate us. That's the heart of a democracy," he added. The 42-year-old had himself come to power as the result of a party coup, engineering the ousting of predecessor Enrico Letta - an ally of Emiliano - to become the country's youngest ever leader.

So how has Renzi been spending his time off?

He wrapped up his campaign in Brussels on Friday, telling reporters in a conference near the European Parliament that the choice of location was a symbol "that we are profoundly European."

He addressed the rise of populism across the continent - the PD's main rival in next year's election will be the anti-establishment Five Star Movement party - saying Europe "must be saved from the populists".

However, he also said the Union needed a "radical change".

He's been a vocal supporter of French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron, congratulating him on progressing to the second round of elections and saying "Bravo Macron: the challenge starts now. A challenge that regards Italy too. Forward, together."

Interestingly, Renzi's slogan in the primaries, "In Cammino" (On the Move), is an exact translation of Macron's political movement, "En Marche!"

READ ALSO: How Matteo Renzi fell as swiftly as he rose 

 Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP </s> The results are in following the vote by 5097 Monegasques for the 24 seats in the National Council. That is a participation by 70.35% (74.4% in 2013) of those allowed to vote, greater than typical of other western European countries.

The results are conclusive for the Party “(Priorite Monaco) Primo!” whose leader Stephane Valeri led a well-oiled campaign and is now destined to be President of the National Council when his election as leader will be carried out shortly. He will formally replace Christophe Steiner.

Stephane Valeri is a veteran of the political scene having been President of the National Council twice before in 2003 and 2008. For a time, from 2010 he was also Minister of Health and Social Affairs. The majority of the 24 seats go to Stephane Valeri’s Primo! Some seats are distributed to minority parties who have more than 5% of the vote to provide for a good debate between the majority and minority parties, while leaving no doubt about the majority and the leadership. Everything points the way to a productive and stable relationship between the National Council and the Government.

Under Monaco’s constitution the Executive powers are invested in the Prince who is the highest authority and who chooses a Minister of State (Serge Telle) to lead the Government. The National Council has less power than its equivalent in France. Its role is to discuss and vote on laws presented by the Government, to vote on the national budget and ratify international treaties, but not to initiate or amend legislation. Parliament in Monaco has a single Chamber, being the National Council, which contrasts with the U.K. and the U.S. for example which have two Chambers.

The two other main parties were magnanimous in their speeches recognizing their defeat. Beatrice Fresko-Rolfo for Horizon Monaco was proud to be the first woman in her role and hoped this paved the way for women in future. Horizon will have two seats in the Chamber.

Jean-Louis Grinda for Union Monegasque recognized the victory of Primo! but felt that his party had sown the seeds of some good new ideas for the future. Union Monegasque will have one seat in the Chamber.

Stephane Valeri and Primo! are the majority party and will have 21 of the 24 seats in the Chamber. </s> Mattarella will then be charged with brokering the appointment of a new government or, if he can't do that, ordering early elections.

Renzi said he would be visiting President Sergio Mattarella on Monday to hand in his resignation following a final meeting of his Cabinet.

Markets seemed to take Renzi's departure in their stride. Stocks and the euro fell in early trading in Asia but there were no signs of panic with the possibility of his resignation having already been largely factored in.

"My experience of government finishes here," Renzi told a press conference on Monday, acknowledging that the "No" campaign had won an "extraordinarily clear" victory in a vote on which he had staked his future.

Interior Ministry projections suggested the "No" camp, led by the populist Five Star Movement, had carried the vote by a margin of almost 60-40 with a near 70 percent turnout underlining the high stakes and the intensity of the debate.

Markets seemed to take Renzi's departure in their stride. Stocks and the euro fell in early trading in Asia but there were no signs of panic with the possibility of his resignation having already been largely factored in.

Mattarella will then be charged with brokering the appointment of a new government or, if he can't do that, ordering early elections.

Five Star founder and leader Beppe Grillo called for an election to be called "within a week" on the basis of a recently adopted electoral law, which is designed to ensure the leading party has a parliamentary majority - a position Five Star could well find themselves in at the next election.

"Democracy was the winner," Grillo wrote in a post-vote blog that marked a significant change in the party's position on the electoral law. Prior to the referendum, Five Star had been arguing for it to be revised.

Most analysts see early elections as unlikely with the most probable scenario involving Renzi's administration being replaced by a caretaker one dominated by his Democratic Party, which will carry on until an election due to take place by the spring of 2018.

Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan is the favourite to succeed Renzi as prime minister and the outgoing leader may stay on as head of his party - which would leave him well-placed for a potential comeback to frontline politics at the next election, whenever it is.

On the day Austria's voters rejected a far-right candidate for president, the scale of the "No" victory in Italy was even bigger than opinion polls had been indicating up until November 18, after which the media were banned from publishing survey results.

Renzi had gone into the final weekend of the campaign insisting he could still win voters around but he acknowledged he had failed.

Spearheaded by Five Star, the biggest rival to Renzi's Democratic party, the "No" campaign also capitalised on Renzi's declining popularity, a sluggish economy and the problems caused by tens of thousands of migrants arriving in Italy from Africa.

"We are voting to try and change a country that has been stalled for far too long," he said.

After the Brexit vote and Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election, the No vote is likely to be interpreted as another victory for populist forces and a potential stepping stone to government for Grillo's Five Star.

But the campaign was not just about popular discontent with the state of Italy. Many Italians of a similar political bent to Renzi had deep reservations about the proposed changes to the constitution.

Under the proposals, the second-chamber Senate, currently a body of 315 directly-elected and five lifetime lawmakers, would have been reduced to only 100 members, mostly nominated by the regions.

The chamber would also have been stripped of most of its powers to block and revise legislation, and to unseat governments.
Matteo Ciacci of Civic 10 and Stefano Palmieri of Future Republic take office of the Captains Regent of San Marino.