Italy crisis: Call to impeach president after candidate vetoed

Italy is mired in fresh political turmoil, with the president facing impeachment calls after he barred a choice for finance minister.

President Sergio Mattarella said he could not appoint Paolo Savona, a strong eurosceptic, citing concerns from investors at home and abroad.

The move ended a bid by Italy's two populist parties to form a coalition.

Mr Mattarella may now appoint a stop-gap prime minster with early elections looking increasingly likely.

He has summoned Carlo Cottarelli, a former executive director of the International Monetary Fund, who could form an interim administration.

Italy has been without a government since elections in March because no political group can form a majority.

The Five Star Party had been trying to form a government with another populist party, the right-wing League.

But the BBC's James Reynolds in Rome warns that appointing a temporary prime minister is unlikely to last and early elections may have to be called.

There is now a real argument between the president and the populists about Italy's position in the EU, he adds.

What caused the crisis?

A political novice, Giuseppe Conte, was proposed by the two populist parties as prime minister in an attempt to break Italy's 11-week political deadlock.

He went to meet Mr Mattarella to put forward choices for his cabinet but the president vetoed Paolo Savona as finance minister, citing his fierce opposition to membership of the eurozone.

Justifying his move, he said "uncertainty about our position in the euro has alarmed Italian and foreign investors", and argued Mr Savona's stance clashed with the two parties' own position on Europe.

"I asked for... an authoritative person from the parliamentary majority who is consistent with the government programme... who isn't seen as a supporter of a line that could probably, or even inevitably, provoke Italy's exit from the euro," Mr Mattarella said.

He added that Mr Conte had refused to support "any other solution" and then surrendered his mandate to be PM.

Under Italian law, the president has the right to reject the appointment of a cabinet member but his decision was a controversial one.