Rome, Feb 2 (AP) The political parties that make up Premier Giuseppe Conte's caretaker government continued to squabble Tuesday over European Union pandemic aid and other key policy issues as they struggled to form what would be a revived but more solid governing coalition.

President Sergio Mattarella set the end of the day as the deadline for a progress report so he can decide whether to give Conte a fresh mandate to form a Cabinet, find some other formula for getting a government in place or to pave the way for an early election.

Conte turned in his resignation a week ago after failing to line up enough support in Parliament to replace the backing of lawmakers loyal to former Premier Matteo Renzi, who withdrew his party's ministers from the government.

Mattarella tasked a parliamentary leader, Chamber of Deputies President Roberto Fico, with coordinating talks among the potential new coalition partners in an effort to overcome differences and guarantee a new government could be forged to guarantee a dependable majority in the legislature.

Renzi, who leads the small Italy Alive party, contended that Conte was bumbling the challenge of managing how more than 200 billion euros (about USD 250 billion) in EU funds and loans would be spent to help Italy recover from the pandemic's damage, especially to the Italian economy.

The government statistical agency ISTAT, reported Monday that nearly 450,000 jobs were lost in the last year.

During breaks in their discussions, party leaders indicated that various sides still were divided on some of the same issues that had fueled months of friction in Conte's government.

Particularly at loggerheads were the populist 5-Star Movement, which is close to Conte and is the largest coalition party, and Renzi's small fold. (AP)

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