Italian centre-left leader Matteo Renzi has been summoned to meet the president on Monday morning at 10.30 CET.<br /><br />President Giorgio Napolitano is likely to ask Renzi to be the next prime minister at that meeting. <br /><br />Renzi would then need to overhaul one of the eurozone’s most troubled economies while awkwardly sharing power with a centre-right rival.<br /><br />Centre-right party leader Angelino Alfano said: “If we say no to the government, it won’t be formed. If we say yes to the government, it will be formed.” He was speaking during a Nuovo Centro Destra meeting. “It’s a big responsibility, because we don’t have the option of making a mistake,” Alfano added.<br /><br />Luigi Contu is director of ANSA, one of Italy’s leading news agencies, and spoke with our euronews reporter:<br /><br />“It’s a big leap for Renzi, because he wants to reach a clear goal of making reforms. We have to recognise that Renzi, since becoming head of the Democratic Party, has made great strides in a month and a half, for example on the electoral law. We’ve been waiting seven years for this to happen,” said Contu.<br /><br />Renzi, the mayor of Florence, was elected leader of the centre-left Democratic Party just two months ago and, at 39, would be Italy’s youngest ever prime minister.<br /><br />After getting a mandate from the president, Renzi would need to strike a deal with the New Centre Right party. He’ll need their support to command a parliamentary majority.
