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Italian PM unveils broader reforms agenda

13 February 2014 02:13 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Italy's Prime Minister Enrico Letta unveiled a new coalition program on Wednesday, vowing to impose a faster pace upon the path of reforms and asking political forces to back his cabinet until the new agenda is fully implemented, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Speculations were on the rise, however, that a power struggle under way with Matteo Renzi, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) to which Letta also belongs, could result in the formation of a new government within days, with Renzi as new premier.

"The government and the program must be tied to the implementation of crucial reforms, some of which are already underway, and not to some theoretical deadlines," Letta said in a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

Letta's plan, entitled "Commitment Italy," would possibly include a cabinet reshuffle, in order to strengthen the cabinet and make it last until the "natural" end of legislature in 2018.

However, the new plan came after weeks of tension within the PD, with the Prime Minister coming under heavy fire from his own party for the slow pace of the reforms he vowed to implement to give a boost to the country's recovery.

Before launching the new program, Letta met with PD chief Matteo Renzi for about one hour in his office at Palazzo Chigi, in a way local media described as a very tense face to face.

Matteo Renzi, 39-year-old mayor of Florence, was elected as PD leader in December 2013. Though saying he had no will to "replace" Letta as PM, the dynamic reformist leader increasingly came to criticize Letta's work and recently said the government would better resign, if unable to implement effective reforms.

Their meeting on Wednesday morning did not seem to have lifted their respective positions and attention will now be focused on a PD leadership summit, scheduled for Thursday, which is due to discuss whether the party will keep supporting the Prime Minister or not.