Italy’s ‘Tony Blair’: Can Premier-in-waiting Matteo Renzi deliver on his youthful promise?

He will need all of his much-vaunted energy and political skills to stop Italy looking like the basket case of the major Western economies

Matteo Renzi has a mountain to climb if he is to sort out the country’s crippling problems (Reuters)

Premier-in-waiting Matteo Renzi rocked up to the presidential palace in a white Alfa Romeo, although he left his “Fonzie” leather jacket at home, and as everyone expected was offered the top job by President Giorgio Napolitano.

The youngest Italian prime minister since the Second World War, exuding the kind of confidence he has become known for, indicated he intends to hit the ground running by pledging a reform a month, starting this month.

But the ambitious 39-year-old Mayor of Florence will need all of his much-vaunted energy and political skills to make inroads into the problems that have left Italy looking like the basket case of the major Western economies.

He has said electoral reforms aimed at delivering strong parliamentary majorities, instead of dithering coalitions, will be the first priority.

Mr Renzi, who has been compared to Tony Blair because of his determination to modernise his dog-eared centre-left Democratic Party, has already done a deal with ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that is likely to be voted on within weeks.

Under the proposals, a party or political grouping that wins 37 per cent of the votes in a general election will automatically gain extra seats to secure its majority in the lower house, while small parties that win less that 4.5 per cent will be excluded. In the event of an indecisive first vote, the two biggest parties will enter a second round. If all goes well, the changes could become law by the autumn.

If Mr Renzi manages to overhaul the system, the real work will have just begun, however, as he wrestles with 40 per cent youth unemployment, low growth, corruption and a €2 trillion (£1.6 trillion) public debt.

But does he have much chance of succeeding? He has promised measures as soon as March to boost job prospects. However, key structural reforms, particularly the liberalisation of Italy’s rigid labour markets, are likely to be opposed by the left of his party and could take years to pass through parliament.

Mr Renzi has said he wants his coalition to continue to 2018, even if many observers think an unelected leader with a cabinet of technocrats, centre-left and centre-right figures has little chance of lasting more than 18 months. And it would take at least four years to turn around Italy’s moribund economy, let alone make inroads into the corruption that blights Italy’s prospects.

Given all this, even those who wish him well are wondering if Renzi hasn’t bitten off a lot more than he can chew.