Matteo Renzi, mayor of Florence since 2009, has been given the mandate to establish a new Italian cabinet from President Giorgio Napolitano. He was thus nominated to become not only Italy’s youngest Prime Minister in history but also the youngest head of the government in the European Union. Italy, the eurozone’s third biggest economy, that is still battered by the consequences of its sovereign crisis, is still expected to carry out more reforms. The 39-old mayor of Florence therefore said that the first bullet on his agenda would be to fight extensive unemployment, boost economic growth and “alleviate despair”. Mr Renzi is to become Italy’s fourth Prime Minister in the last four years.
The chief of the centre-leftist Democratic Party was nominated to become the new head of the cabinet after ex-Prime Minister Enrico Letta had been encouraged to resign following the vote in the Parliament initiated by Mr Renzi. He accused the former head of the Parliament of having failed to achieve his pledges to the electorate. Mr Renzi was widely expected to begin his coalition negotiations on Tuesday (18 February) and he predicts this would take “a few days”. His aim is to build such a cabinet that would survive until the next scheduled polls in 2018.
The previous coalition of the Democratic Party is thought to retain its status quo although some do not take it entirely for granted. Mr Renzi promised that if he is successful, he will implement necessary electoral and political reforms by the end of February and start further structural changes in the first months in office. The next step should include reforms of the Italian tax system, education, and job market. Although being extremely popular among the young, some political scientists worry that he might be a bit inexperienced and lacking political maturity for the office of Prime Minister.
