The European Union said on Wednesday it has "complete faith" in Italian president Sergio Mattarella, who has the task of overseeing efforts to form a new government after the inconclusive national election in March.
"We do not comment on the process taking place in Italy under its Constitution - we have complete faith in Mattarella's conduct of this process," European Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein told reporters in Brussels.
Winsterstein answered a request for a comment on the exploratory mandate Mattarella gave Italian Senate speaker Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati on Wednesday to verify by Friday whether the centre-right alliance and the populist Five-Star Movement can muster a parliamentary majority and if they can agree on the premier of a coalition government.
Mattarella's move came after he held two rounds of talks this month with Italy's political leaders which failed to end the deadlock that resulted from the split national vote on 4 March in which populist parties made strong gains in a hung parliament.
