Today, Italian President Napolitano handed Enrico Letta, deputy of the centre-left Partito Democratico (Democratic Party), a mandate to try to form a government.
Letta was a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2008 and served as Italian Minister of European Affairs from 1998 to 1999. Letta’s uncle is Gianni Letta, who is a senior member of Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right Il Popolo della Libertà (People of Freedom) party.
Napolitano has appointed Letta to form a bipartisan government in the hope of breaking the impasse that has stalled the creation of a government since the General Election in February. The 87-year-old Napolitano was re-elected as president on Saturday, 20 April, after days of squabbling between political parties. He was inaugurated two days later, when he made a speech vowing to break the political deadlock, declaring that he would resign if rival political factions failed to form a government.
However, Letta’s government will have to win a confidence vote in parliament. If he succeeds in doing so, the 46-year-old politician will be one of the youngest leaders in Europe. Even if Letta does manage to form a coalition government of the right and left parties, there is speculation that it would be short lived.
