Matteo Renzi Asked To Form New Italian Government

39-year-old would become Italy's youngest ever prime minister

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Filippo Monteforte / AFP / Getty Images

The head of the leftist Democratic Party, Matteo Renzi speaks to reporters at Quirinale Palace in Rome on Feb. 17, 2014.

Center-left leader Matteo Renzi was asked to form a new Italian government on Monday, paving the way for him to become the country’s youngest ever Prime Minister.

President Giorgio Napolitano asked Renzi, 39, to form a new parliamentary coalition after the former premier Enrico Letta was pushed out in a Democratic Party (PD) coup Friday, USA Today reports.

Renzi, the mayor of Florence, is a political neophyte on the national stage, and has promised bold economic reform for the economically struggling euro zone country. Italy saw just a 0.1% GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2013.

The Tuscan politician would be the third prime minister in a row nominated by Napolitano without having won an election, as Italy reels from political scandals including the one that embroiled former center-right President Silvio Berlusconi, who was convicted last year for tax fraud.

[USA Today]