Government formation Following five inconclusive ballots for the
2013 Italian presidential election, incumbent president
Giorgio Napolitano accepted to be re-elected at the
Quirinal Palace. Eventually, Napolitano reluctantly agreed to serve for another term in order to safeguard the continuity of the country's institutions. Napolitano was easily re-elected on 20 April 2013, receiving 738 of the 1007 possible votes, and was sworn in on 22 April 2013 after a speech when he asked for constitutional and electoral reforms. in Rome, 2013 After his re-election, Napolitano immediately began consultations with the chairmen of the
Chamber of Deputies,
Senate and political forces, after the failure of the previous attempt with Bersani, and the establishment of a panel of experts by the President himself (dubbed as
wise men by the press), in order to outline priorities and formulate an agenda to deal with the persistent economic hardship and growing unemployment. On 24 April 2013, Enrico Letta was invited to form a government by President Napolitano, following weeks of political deadlock. On 27 April, Letta formally accepted the task of leading a
grand coalition government, with support from the centre-left Democratic Party, the centre-right
People of Freedom (PdL) of Silvio Berlusconi and the centrist
Civic Choice of outgoing PM
Mario Monti. The government he formed became the first in the
history of the Italian Republic to include representatives of all the major coalitions that had run in the latest election. His close relationship with his uncle, Gianni Letta, one of Berlusconi's most trusted advisors, was perceived as a way of overcoming the bitter hostility between the two opposing factions. Letta appointed
Angelino Alfano, secretary of the People of Freedom, as his
Deputy Prime Minister. The new government was formally sworn-in as on 28 April. During the swearing ceremony, a man fired gunshots outside
Chigi Palace and wounded two
Carabinieri. The attacker, Luigi Preiti, was stopped and arrested; he declared that he wanted to kill politicians or at least to hit a "symbol of politics" and that he was forced by despair being unemployed and recently divorced. On 29 April, Letta's government won the confidence vote in the Chamber with 453 votes in favour, 152 against and 17 abstentions. On the following day, he won the confidence vote in Senate too, with 233 votes in favour, 59 against 18 abstentions. In his first speech in front of the Parliament, Letta stressed "necessity to restore decency, sobriety and a sense of honour"; he also advocated for a reduction of politics' costs.
Economic policies During his premiership, Letta had to face a serious socio-economic crisis caused by the
Great Recession and the subsequent
European debt crisis. In 2013, one of the major problems of the country was the huge
youth unemployment, which was valued around 40%. To face this issue, on 14 June 2013, Letta scheduled a summit at
Chigi Palace with the ministers of the economy, finance and labour of Italy,
Germany,
France and
Spain, to agree on common EU policies for reducing unemployment. On 15 June, the government approved the so-called "Action Decree" on hiring policies enabling economic recovery. The decree was later approved by the Parliament between July and August 2013 with a
confidence vote. The reform was harshly criticized by the anti-establishment
Five Star Movement. On 29 August, the government abolished IMU, the Italian tax on
real estate introduced by the technocratic government of
Mario Monti, for primary homes and for farm buildings .
Immigration policies As a result of the
Libyan and
Syrian Civil Wars, a major problem faced by Letta upon becoming prime minister in 2013 was the high levels of
illegal immigration to Italy. On 3 October 2013, a boat carrying migrants from
Libya to
Italy sank off the Italian island of
Lampedusa. It was reported that the boat had sailed from
Misrata, Libya, but that many of the migrants were originally from
Eritrea,
Somalia and
Ghana. An emergency response involving the
Italian Coast Guard resulted in the rescue of 155 survivors. On 12 October it was reported that the confirmed death toll after searching the boat was 359, but that further bodies were still missing; a figure of "more than 360" deaths was later reported, becoming the deadliest shipwreck occurred in the
Mediterranean Sea. After the Lampedusa tragedy, Prime Minister Letta decided to strengthen the national patrolling of
Sicilian channel by authorizing
Operation Mare Nostrum, a military and humanitarian operation whose purpose was to patrol the maritime border and provide relief to migrants. This operation had two main purposes: to safeguard life at sea and to combat the illegal smuggling of migrants. The operation brought at least 150,000 migrants to Europe, mainly from
Africa and the
Middle East. The operation ended a few months after the end of his premiership, on 31 October 2014.
Foreign policies in the
Oval Office A strong
pro-Europeanist politician, Letta built up close relations with other prominent European leaders like
Angela Merkel, who was the first foreign leader he met, just a few days after his sworn in, on 30 April. Letta also built a warm relationship with the French President
François Hollande, with whom he shared a common view on
austerity policies, considered outdated to face the economic crisis; Letta and Hollande often stressed the necessity to increase the public expenditures in investments. On 17 and 18 June, Letta participated in his first
G8 summit at
Lough Erne in
Northern Ireland. During the summit, Letta had his first bilateral meeting with the
President of the United States,
Barack Obama. On 17 October, Letta was invited to the
White House by President Obama, who stated that he had been really impressed by the Italian Prime Minister and his reforms plan. On 5 and 6 September, Letta took part in the
G20 summit in
Saint Petersburg. The summit was focused on the aftermath of the
Syrian civil war. Letta advocated for a diplomatic resolution of the crisis promoted by the
United Nations. On 25 September, during his speech in front of the
United Nations General Assembly, Letta asked a deep reform of the
UN Security Council.
September 2013 government crisis On 28 September 2013, five ministers of The People of Freedom resigned on the orders of their leader, Silvio Berlusconi, pointing to the decision to postpone the decree that prevented the increase of the
VAT from 21 to 22%, thus opening a government crisis. On the following day, Letta had a meeting with President Napolitano to discuss the possible alternatives to solve the crisis. The head of State stressed that he would dissolve
parliament only if there were no other possible alternatives. and
Giorgio Napolitano in December 2013 In the following days, dozens of members of PdL prepared to defy Berlusconi and vote in favour of the government, prompting him to announce that he would back the Prime Minister. On 2 October, the government received 235 votes in favor and 70 against in the
Senate, and 435 in favor and 162 against in the Chamber of Deputies. Letta could thus continue his grand coalition government. On 23 November, the Senate had to vote about the expulsion of Berlusconi from the Parliament, due to a
conviction of tax fraud by the
court of final instance and the
Court of Cassation, which occurred a few months before. Because he had been sentenced to a gross imprisonment for more than two years, the Senate voted to expel him from the Parliament, barring him from serving in any legislative office for six years. After his expulsion from the Parliament, Berlusconi, who disbanded the PdL a few days before re-founding
Forza Italia party, withdrew his support to the government. However, the interior minister
Angelino Alfano did not follow his former leader, founding, along with other ministers and many members of the parliament, the
New Centre-Right party, remaining in government. The government later won key confidence votes in December 2013, with 173 votes in favour in the Senate and 350 in the Chamber. On 26 January 2014, the
Minister of Agriculture,
Nunzia De Girolamo, resigned from her post due to claims of improper conduct linked to a scandal in the local healthcare system of her hometown,
Benevento. Her resignation was accepted by Letta on the following day, who took the ministerial role
ad interim.
Resignation On 8 December 2013, the
Mayor of Florence,
Matteo Renzi, won the
Democratic Party leadership election by a landslide, immediately starting rumours about the possibility of becoming the new prime minister. On 17 January 2014, while on air at
Le invasioni barbariche on
La7 TV channel, interviewed about tensions between him and Prime Minister Letta, Renzi tweeted the
hashtag #enricostaisereno ("Enrico don't worry") to reassure his party colleague that he was not plotting anything against him. and President Napolitano in October 2013 The growing criticism of the slow pace of Italian economic reform left Letta increasingly isolated within his own party. At a PD's meeting on 13 February 2014, the Democratic Party leadership voted heavily in favour of Renzi's motion for "a new government, a new phase and a radical programme of reforms". Minutes after the party backed Renzi's proposal by 136 votes to 16, with two abstentions, Letta went to the Quirinal Palace, for a bilateral meeting with President Napolitano. On 14 February, Letta resigned from the office of prime minister. Following Letta's resignation, Renzi received the task of forming a new government from President Napolitano on 17 February, and was formally sworn in as prime minister on 22 February. ==Academic career==