Renzi mandated to form new Italian government

The Mayor of Florence Matteo Renzi has accepted the role of prime minister, in the place of the resigned Enrico Letta, after being summoned to Italy's presidential Quirinal Palace by President Giorgio Napolitano on Monday. After talks that lasted close to an hour this morning, the palace announced that 39-year-old Renzi, the Democratic Party secretary general, had accepted the post of prime minister. For his part, Renzi, who had received the trust of his majority party who lost faith in Enrico Letta, said he would begin talks to form a new government within 24 hours. He will have a huge task ahead of him as the country is in its worst economic slump since WWII, and Renzi has stressed that he would be laying out a program of reforms, particularly on the economic front, to be completed over the next few months.