Cometh demolition man

13 February 2014 By Neil Unmack Follow @unmack1

Matteo Renzi promises change, but his rise to power is starting to look like a classic Roman coup. His rival, Prime Minister Enrico Letta, couldn’t revive Italy’s dormant economy. Renzi may find the task equally tough, and a victory without an election doesn’t help.

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Enrico Letta, Italy’s prime minister, resigned on Feb. 13 after losing the support of his centre-left Democratic Party (PD), who voted to see its leader Matteo Renzi take over the ruling coalition government. Renzi had previously called for a new government, and thanked Letta for his service. Renzi won the vote of the party’s leadership committee by 136 against 16.

Renzi proposed a government backed by the same parliamentary majority, which could last until 2018.

The coalition comprises the PD, as well as a splinter grou, p from Silvio Berlusconi’s former party, known as the New Centre-Right, and Civic Choice, a party created by former Prime Minister Mario Monti, who has since left it.

This item has been corrected to read “2012” in the second paragraph, not ”2011” as originally published.

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