He has never been elected to parliament, or served in an Italian government, but Matteo Renzi could be asked to form the country’s next government this weekend. <br /><br />It’s predicted the Mayor of Florence and leader of the centre-left Democratic Party could be named Italy’s youngest PM by Saturday evening and sworn into office early next week.<br /><br />President Giorgio Napolitano opened consultations in Rome with other political leaders on Friday afternoon. The heads of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement – which gained a quarter of the vote in last year’s election – and the Northern League refused to take part.<br /><br />But the current acting leader of the Forza Italia party Silvio Berlusconi, who says he is the last elected prime minister, did join in the consultations.<br /><br />It’s the first time the former prime minister has met with the president since he was convicted of tax fraud.<br /><br />The outgoing PM Enrico Letta formally handed in his resignation to the president on Friday.<br /><br />Opinion polls suggest the majority of Italians disapprove of Renzi taking over without an election.<br /><br />The fall of the government coincided with Moody’s investor services lifting Italy’s sovereign rating from negative to stable.<br /><br />Even so the economy, which is one of the world’s slowest growing in the last two years, will be one of the 39-year-old Renzi’s biggest challenges.
