FLORENCE, ITALY – Democratic Party’s secretary Matteo Renzi was given a mandate to try to form a government from Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Monday.
“I accepted the mandate with reserve… and I assured him we will put all of our commitment behind this difficult situation,” said Renzi. Renzi forced Letta’s ouster Thursday at a meeting of the PD. The premier-designate must now hold talks scheduled to begin Tuesday with other parties on setting a government program and forming a new cabinet.
The 39-year-old mayor of Florence will become the youngest Italian premier in history and the third prime minister from the Tuscan capital since the beginnings of the Italian Republic.
The first premier from Florence was Giovanni Spadolini: he was leader of the Italian Republican Party (PRI) from 1979 to 1987, during both the 10th and the 11th Legislatures.
He served as Prime Minister of Italy from 1981 to 1982, the first in the post-1945 Republic to do so who was not a member of Christian Democracy. From 1987 to April 1994 he was President of the Italian Senate. As a journalist, he sometimes used the pseudonym Giovanni dalle Bande Nere. Before entering politics, he was editor of Il Corriere della Sera from 1968 to 1972.
The second florentine premier was Lamberto Dini (born 1 March 1931), an Italian politician and economist. He was the 51st Prime Minister of Italy from 1995 to 1996 and Foreign Minister from 1996 to 2001.
In order to launch a new executive with Renzi at the helm, the florentine reformer will need to win over the support of several small centrist parties.
“We go on as if nothing had happened, continuing to work for the city. The city of Florence is more important than its mayor and the administration is able to move forward”, Renzi said on Monday in the last Town Council as mayor.
Discover more from Florence Daily News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.