Italian politics

Renzis ropy start

Italys new prime minister is long on promises but short on detail

WHEN a politician of populist inclinations takes office, forms a government and unveils his
programme, he usually has something to please everyone. So it seemed at first with Italys new
prime minister, Matteo Renzi.
Eight of the 16 ministers he announced on February 21st were women. They included Italys first
female defence minister, Roberta Pinotti, and Federica Mogherini, who at 40 will be its youngest
foreign minister since 1936. The average age of his cabinet (47) is even lower than that of his
predecessor, Enrico Letta. It included choices to reassure employers and investors: Pier Carlo
Padoan, formerly the OECD chief economist, as finance minister and Federica Guidi, once leader
of Italys young businesspeople, as economic-development minister. Nor was imagination
lacking: he gave regional affairs to a mayor who has stood up to Calabrias mafia.
When it came to seeking the backing of parliament, however, the prime minister had something
to worry everyone. On February 25th he sailed through a vote of confidence in the lower house
where his Democratic Party has an outright majority. But the day before, in the upper house,
where his grip is more tenuous, he got 169 votes against 139, which is not a secure majority in
Italys fragile system.
Many senators, including some of his own, were openly dismayed by Mr Renzis almost insolent
manner. He broke with tradition by speaking off the cuff and for some of the time with one hand
in his pocket. And he told his audience bluntly that he intended scrapping their jobs (he is
planning to turn the Senate into a regional chamber like the German Bundesrat). When an
opposition lawmaker objected to his manner, he replied that it was perhaps because you are
increasingly far away from how people speak outside.
The biggest problem, however, was the lack of detail in Mr Renzis speech. He has promised a
reform a month until June: of employment law, bureaucracy and taxation. But he put no flesh on
his proposal for a new employment contract, or the extension of unemployment benefits to all.
Instead he talked about a 10 billion ($13.7 billion) cut in the direct-tax wedge (income tax plus
social-security contributions), a school-building programme costing several billion as well as
clearing the states debts to private firms, estimated at up to 100 billion. But there was no real
explanation as to how Mr Renzi intended to pay.
Troubled by Mr Renzis earlier promises, the EUs economic-affairs commissioner, Olli Rehn,
has already fired a warning shot. He will not be comforted by the prime ministers comment to
the chamber that he wanted a Europe where Italy doesnt go to take instructions to know what
to do.