Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini on Monday dismissed speculation that the government could call early elections after losing this month's referendum on its reform of Italy's justice system in the first major setback for Premier Giorgia Meloni since she took office in 2022.
"No one is thinking of early elections," Forza Italia leader Tajani, who, like Salvini, is also deputy premier, said during a video link to an event on Italian cuisine organized by veteran journalist Bruno Vespa.
"There are repercussions when you have a negative result, but now we must work on economic issues, above all, such as growing the economy, preventing the energy crisis from interfering with businesses, reducing the tax burden and continuing to increase GDP".
League leader Salvini said at a Milan event organized by daily newspaper Il Giornale that the "government will press on and reach the end of the parliament term without doubt and without any hesitation".
Three government officials resigned last week after the referendum defeat with Meloni reportedly seeking to purge her executive of potentially problematic figures in view of the next general election, with the parliamentary term set to end next year.
