The new Italian government of centre-left (PD) leader Matteo Renzi is almost up and running, just one week after the collapse of Enrico Letta's coalition. Mr Renzi (39) and his government will be sworn in this morning in the Presidential Palace while the new executive will face its first all-vital vote of confidence in the senate on Monday.
"Demolition Man" Renzi had promised to move quickly and, thus far, he has been as good as his word. Following a 2½-hour meeting with state president Giorgio Napolitano yesterday evening, Mr Renzi struck a typically upbeat Obama-style note when he emerged to meet reporters:
“I would like to think that if someone like me can become prime minister in Italy, then nothing is impossible. I would hope that our government will go some way towards repairing the relationship between politics and public opinion . . .”
Cabinet named
Mr Renzi has also indicated several times in the last week that his cabinet would reflect a strong sense of discontinuity from that of Enrico Letta. At first glance, he appears to have remained true to his word by naming a 16-person cabinet, eight women and eight men, which contains only five ministers from the Letta cabinet.
Political gamble
Inevitably, however, the Renzi government formation looks like a major gamble, given that key positions will be filled by people with no previous government experience. Leaving aside Mr Renzi himself, whose only important government experience has been that of mayor of Florence, the positions of economy minister and foreign minister have also been given to two people who have never previously served in national government: economist Pier Carlo Padoan and EU expert Federica Mogherini.
Commentators suggest, however, that the appointment of OECD chief economist Padoan will be favourably greeted by the markets, by the European Central Bank and by Italy’s senior EU partners. Given that Mr Padoan takes over when Italy is taking some timid steps out of recession, he could prove to be a key figure in assuring the success and the survival of this 65th post-war Italian government.
Mr Renzi has gone out of his way to emphasise the “different” nature of his cabinet, particularily over the unexpected parity of sexes in a Meditteranean country where old fashioned, often ugly sexism is evident every night on mainstream television. The flip side of that bold decision is that his new foreign minister, 40-year-old Federica Mogherini, the youngest ever Italian foreign minister, is very inexperienced for such a potentially difficult post. Ms Mogherini, a member of various think tanks, has been in parliament since 2008 in which time she has served on defence and foreign affairs commissions.
Defuse tensions
One of her first, most delicate tasks will be to attempt to defuse burgeoning tensions with India over the fate of two Italian marines, accused by Indian authorities of the 2012 killing of two Indian fishermen while serving as a military escort on an Italian oil tanker off the coast of India.
Other imaginative appointments are those of the former anti-Mafia mayor of Monasterace in Calabria, Maria Carmela Lanzetta, who is the new regional affairs minister, and the new economic development minister Federica Guidi, a member of the famous Ducati motor cycle family.
The five ministers that have survived from the Letta cabinet are New Centre Right (NCD) leader Angelino Alfano at the interior ministry, health minister and NCD exponent Beatrice Lorenzin, transport minister and NCD figure Maurizio Lupi as well as two PD figures, Dario Franceschini at culture and Andrea Orlando at justice.