ROME: Italian President Giorgio Napolitano
(pictured) yesterday asked centre-left deputy leader Enrico Letta to form a new government, signalling the end of a damaging two-month vacuum since elections in the euro zone’s third largest economy in February.
Letta, a youthful former Christian Democrat from the right wing of his Democratic Party, said he would start talks to form a broad-based coalition today. It will likely go to parliament for a vote of confidence by early
next week. The prime minister designate is expected to select a group of ministers, mixed between politicians and technocrats, under the guidance of Napolitano, whose own unprecedented re-election last weekend opened the way for an end to the crisis. The new government will be backed primarily by Letta’s centre-left and the centre-right of Silvio Berlusconi, which had hitherto repeatedly failed to cut a deal following inconclusive elections two months ago.
Formation of a government after a lengthy and turbulent political impasse will send a signal that Italy might at last be ready to make a start on much-needed reforms.
Accepting his mandate, Letta said he was surprised by the nomination and felt a profound responsibility on his shoulders. But he said he would not form a government “at all costs”, warning that the warring parties must make compromises.
Italy faced an untenable “difficult and fragile” situation and the government must provide answers on jobs, poverty and the crisis facing small businesses in a deep recession, he said.
He added that European Union economic policies had been too focused on austerity instead of growth and that Italy’s electoral and parliamentary system must be reformed.
Napolitano’s choice of Letta instead of veteran former Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, who was said to have been his original favourite, indicated he had plumped for a more political figure who reflects a generational change in Italian politics.
The bespectacled and balding Letta, an urbane moderate who speaks fluent English, is 46 against Amato’s 74 and is an elected member of parliament unlike the older, more experienced man.
He will be the second youngest prime minister in Italian postwar history and as a staunch pro-European is likely to be welcomed by foreign governments and markets.
Investors had already reacted with relief to the prospect of an end to the intractable crisis, with Italy’s two-year borrowing costs yesterday tumbling to their lowest level since the start of European monetary union
in 1999.
Reuters
