ITALY: Italy’s youngest-ever prime minister Matteo Renzi, 39, and his fresh-faced
cabinet were sworn in Saturday, at a ceremony led by President Giorgio
Napolitano, amid widespread scepticism that the new government has the political
maturity to tackle the country’s formidable challenges.
The former mayor of Florence was accompanied by his wife and three children —
dressed in the colours of the Italian flag — to the formal ceremony in Italy’s
presidential palace, and smiled widely as he watched his new team sworn in by
President Giorgio Napolitano.
The centre-left leader takes over the reins of the eurozone’s third largest
economy in a period of increasing frustration among ordinary Italians hard hit
by a deep recession and weary of broken political promises.
In his 16-strong cabinet, half of the new ministers are women and — with an
average age of 47.8 years — it is the youngest government in Italy’s history.
Renzi is “gambling on freshness, newness and energy”, but “doubts must be
raised over the government’s experience and ability to have a bearing on the
worst post-war economic crisis Italy has known,” said political watcher Mario
Calabresi in La Stampa daily.
Il Sole 24 Ore financial daily warned that “Italians are waiting for reforms,
not just pretty smiles.”
European partners will be watching closely to see whether the 39-year-old can
revolutionise the halls of power after ousting his predecessor Enrico Letta for
failing to enact reforms in a country often perceived as stifled by corruption
and bureaucracy.
The new prime minister had made it clear he was reluctant to keep a team that
worked with Letta, but many analysts expressed surprise over the former Florence
mayor’s decision to change the majority of posts, including key offices such as
foreign minister.
“Renzi seems to be betting everything on himself, on his political energy,”
editorialist Ezio Mauro for La Repubblica daily said, while Marco Travaglio in
Il Fatto Quotidiano described the new cabinet as “a boiled chicken soup which
disappoints even the most lukewarm expectations.”
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