Gentiloni named Italian PM and asked to form government

Italy's head of state, president Sergio Mattarella has asked outgoing foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni to become prime minister of a new government.

Mr Gentiloni said he would try to form the government as soon as possible and that it would move "within the same framework" as the outgoing government of prime minister Matteo Renzi. "I am aware of the urgent need to give Italy a government with full powers," he said.

The 62-year-old prime-minister designate is a key member of Mr Renzi's democratic party. Mr Renzi resigned on Wednesday after heavily losing a referendum on constitutional reform on which he had staked his job.

In all likelihood, Mr Gentiloni will hope to have his cabinet named by Tuesday and then sworn in on Wednesday in time to represent Italy at Thursday's European Union summit in Brussels.

In a brief statement, Mr Gentiloni who comes from the ranks of the Renzi-led Partito Democratico (PD), indicated that among his immediate priorities will be the reconstruction of the earthquake-hit zones of central Italy and the enactment of new electoral legislation.

Observers say he may be forced to oversee government intervention in the debt-ridden Monte Dei Paschi di Siena, the world’s oldest bank and one of Italy’s biggest.

Candidate from beginning

Right from the start of this government crisis, Mr Gentiloni has been high on the shortlist of possible candidates for prime minister.

Mr Mattarella has been been keen to appoint a new prime minister with the minimum of delay both because of impending European and international commitments and also to avoid a lengthy crisis which could cause problems for Italy’s sluggish economy.

Although he has accepted his nomination “with reserve”, Mr Gentiloni should have no problem obtaining a working parliamentary majority given that he will inherit the same centre-left, PD dominated majority which underwrote Mr Renzi’s executive from February 2014 until last week.

In addition, key figures in Mr Renzi's cabinet such as finance minister Pier Carlo Padoan, interior minister Angelino Alfano, arts minister Dario Franceschini, cabinet undersecretary Luca Lotti and government spokesman Fillipo Sensi, are all expected to form part of his government team.

While the PD party have complained that no other party wanted to form a government of "national responsibility" with them, the fact the same forces and the same faces, minus Mr Renzi, will make up the new executive has inevitably annoyed opposition forces such as the Five Star Protest Movement (M5S), the Northern League and the right wing Fratelli d'Italia, all of which had called for an immediate general election.

‘Puppet’

The M5S say that they will abandon parliament when a confidence vote in the new government is called, whilst the Northern League have promised to take to the streets in protest against an alleged usurping of the electorate’s will. Giorgia Meloni of Fratelli d’Italia said: “The puppet of the business and banks lobby has just been replaced by the puppet of the puppet of the business and banks lobby”.

Mr Gentiloni, whose political career began in far-left student politics, served as minister of communications in the 2006-2008 centre-left government of Romano Prodi.

The classic “safe pair of hands” figure, he is unlikely to take any radical initiatives in his time in government house, in contrast with his immediate predecessor.

Irreconcilable differences

In handling this crisis, Mr Mattarella had come up against irreconcilable differences between the calls for an early election and the current legal and constitutional reality.

He argued that a snap general election is not possible now because, in the wake of the referendum, Italy currently finds itself in the anomalous situation of having two different electoral laws and systems for the Senate and the Lower House.

The president, who himself has served on the constitutional court, argued that until Italy has one “homogeneous” electoral system, there can be no general election.

The electoral law issue is further complicated by the fact that the law, the “Porcellum”, which currently applies to the Senate has already been ruled unconstitutional.

Furthermore, the Italicum, the law introduced by Mr Renzi and applicable in the Lower House, is due to come before the Constitutional Court next month where it seems likely to be ruled unconstitutional.

Electoral legislation

Therefore, one of the major priorities of the new government will be to rush homogeneous electoral legislation through parliament. Given the complex and inevitably controversial nature of such a bill, it is unrealistic to see it through parliament before early next summer.

This in turn means that no general election could be held before next autumn, late summer. At that point, given that this legislature ends in the spring of 2018, Mr Gentiloni may well see his government through to 2018.