During a visit to Lebanon on Monday, Italy's foreign minister Luigi Di Maio called on the country to rapidly form a new government capable of meeting its citizens' needs.
"It is essential that a new Lebanese government is formed a soon as possible, which is able to meet citizens' legitimate aspirations," Di Maio, who belongs to Italy's grassroots 5-Star Movement, wrote on Facebook.
Di Maio's visit follows protests in central Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon on Sunday against the country's new premier, Hassan Diab, whom the protesters accuse of belonging to Lebanon's corrupt ruling elite.
Diab, a university professor and former education minister, held consultations Saturday with parliamentary blocs aimed at getting Lebanon out of its economic and financial crisis in decades.
Anti-government protests forced former prime minister Saad Hariri to resign on 29 October, meeting a key demand of the protesters.
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