ROME—Matteo Renzi, a former Italian premier, withdrew his party’s ministers on Jan. 13 from Premier Giuseppe Conte’s government, triggering a political crisis in the middle of a pandemic that might lead to a revamped Cabinet, a different coalition leader, or even an early election that opposition right-wing parties hope will bring them to power.
Renzi, who leads the small centrist Italy Alive party, has been chafing for weeks at what he sees as Conte’s heavy hand in deciding how some 200 billion euros in European Union funding will be used to help pull Italy out of years of economic stagnation that has been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
