After a couple of days assessing the situation following Friday’s ousting of Enrico Letta as Italy’s prime minister, President Giorgio Napolitano is expected to offer the job to a relative youngster.
Thirty-nine-year-old Florence Mayor Matteo Renzi has been summoned to the presidential palace where he is likely to be given the chance to form a new government.
If he manages it he will become the country’s youngest ever premier.
But it won’t be easy for the centre-left leader who is facing days of political horse-trading..
The man Renzi will have to woo is rival Angelino Alfano. Only with his support and that of the small New Centre Right (NCD) party will Renzi and the Democratic Party (PD) command a parliamentary majority.
The main problem is Alfano is insisting on a programme with a clear centre-right stamp on tax, jobs and family policies before backing Renzi…. the horse trading could take some time.
