Barack Obama will not meet Enrico Letta, as planned on his European tour in March. When he comes, to meet with the Pope as well, he will find another premier instead. 
 
Italy is changing its government once again. After 10 months at the helm of a left-right coalition, Enrico Letta resigned.
 
The President of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano, confirmed Letta’s resignation from the position of premier as “irrevocable” (meaning that there will be no confidence vote in Parliament to formalize the collapse of his coalition government), and gave a government-formation mandate to the new leader of Letta’s Democratic Party, Matteo Renzi. The Florence mayor, who is often dressed casually in jeans with his shirt sleeves rolled up, for the occasion wore a dark suit for his meeting with the President and decided to mimic the down-to-earth approach of his predecessor, Enrico Letta driving himself to the presidential palace.
 President Giorgio Napolitano 

 President Giorgio Napolitano 

Elected party secretary in a landslide last December, at age 39, he could become Italy’s youngest premier.
Moreover, Renzi’s succession (he is reportedly working already on a list of ministers and has vowed to forge an executive built to last until the end of the parliamentary term in 2018), means he would be sworn as Italy’s third straight unelected premier after Mario Monti and Letta, who was sworn in last April at the head of a coalition government formed after three months of uncertainty following inconclusive elections.
 
 Renzi has been likened to a young Tony Blair and been nicknamed “Demolition Man” by the international press for his long-declared ambition to “junk” Italy’s dysfunctional political system and the old elite that has failed to reform it. He has promised swift action to create jobs, reduce taxes and cut back the stifling bureaucracy weighing on employers and business, but has offered few specific policy proposals and a promised “Jobs Act” expected last month has been delayed.
 
Letta’s decision to resign followed a Democratic Party meeting at which Renzi said a change of government was needed, in order to bring about reforms. He accused Letta of a lack of action on improving the economy, with unemployment at its highest level in forty years and the economy shrinking by 9% in seven years. The disillusionment with Letta grew in the past couple of months because reforms were moving too slowly.
 
Even if the opinion polls indicate that most Italians would prefer Renzi to his predecessor, he has never been elected to parliament and has no popular mandate. Upon  succeeding Letta, the next premier will inherit an uncomfortable coalition with both center-left and center-right parties.

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