Renzi will lead Italy successfully - analyst

Sabrina Pisu, euronews: “Matteo Renzi has been asked to form a government. As Italy’s probable next premier, what are his strong and weak points?”

Aldo Cazzullo, editorial writer, Corriere della Sera newspaper: “He really has a lot of weak points. His government move follows presidential steps; he doesn’t have the people’s mandate. He has a fragile majority and a divided party. He not only has Enrico Letta against him, who is obviously irritated, but also a big part of the Italian establishment, which doesn’t really want change. The two things in his favour are, one: himself – Renzi has quite a few faults, and he’s shown some of these in the past few days, but his energy is unsurpassed among Italian politicians these last 20 years. His second asset is Italy, because part of Italy is just waiting to be shaken up so it can reboot. If politics shows it knows how to reform while cutting its costs, starting with parliamentarians’ salaries, and shows it can simplify fiscal policy and red tape and give hope to the unemployed, then Renzi could succeed.”

euronews: “Matteo Renzi is the third prime minister in three years; why should he succeed?”

Cazzullo: “Because I think Mario Monti and Enrico Letta, who were actually very good prime ministers, showed themselves to Europe with a sort of ‘Italian abroad’ complex. They took care to express themselves in English, and tried not to push too hard. In contrast, I think Italy has to face Europe to make itself heard – even in poor English – its clout, its interests, its desperate need for public investment and new jobs.”

euronews: “What obstacles could Matteo Renzi encounter next on his path to become premier?”

Cazzullo: “First of all he has to form a solid team of ministers. The names going round don’t look that great to me. We’re going to have to see what kind of team he manages to put together and what kind of support it can get, not just in parliament but especially from the country.”

euronews: “What absolutely has to appear in his reform programme?”

Cazzullo: “Jobs, jobs and more jobs. That’s the absolute priority. It’s not only about making money circulate again. Italy does have a financial crisis but above all it has to get its confidence back, give young people back their confidence. Youth unemployment in Italy today is higher than 40 percent, and one young person in every four is neither in work, studying or training. No country can survive that. The country is going to have to be kickstarted so that young people go back to work. I think Renzi has a chance.”

euronews: “Will Matteo Renzi succeed?”

Cazzullo: “Yes.”