On 17 January 2014, while on air at
Le invasioni barbariche on
La7 TV channel, interviewed about the tensions between him and the Prime Minister
Enrico Letta, Renzi tweeted #enricostaisereno ("Enrico don't worry") to reassure his party colleague that he was not plotting anything against him. At a meeting on 13 February, the PD leadership voted heavily in favour of Renzi's call for "a new government, a new phase and a radical programme of reform". Minutes after the party backed the Renzi proposal by 136 votes to 16, with two abstentions,
Palazzo Chigi, the official residence of the Prime Minister, announced that Letta would travel to the
Quirinale the following day to tender his resignation to President
Giorgio Napolitano. On 17 February, in his last act as the mayor of Florence, Renzi appointed
Dario Nardella as Deputy Mayor Regent of Florence with the task of leading the city until the mayoral elections in May that same year. In an earlier speech, Renzi had paid tribute to Letta, saying that he did not intend to put him "on trial". Without directly proposing himself as the next prime minister, he said the
eurozone's third-largest economy urgently needed "a new phase" and "radical programme" to push through badly needed reforms. The motion he put forward made clear "the necessity and urgency of opening a new phase with a new executive". Speaking privately to party leaders, Renzi said that Italy was "at a crossroads" and faced either holding fresh elections or a new government without a return to the polls. On 14 February, President Napolitano accepted Letta's resignation from the office of Prime Minister. Following Letta's resignation, Renzi formally received the task of forming a new government from President Napolitano on 17 February. Renzi held several days of talks with party leaders, all of which he broadcast live on the internet, before unveiling the
Renzi Cabinet on 21 February, which contained members of the PD, the
New Centre-Right, the
Union of the Centre, and the
Civic Choice (SC). His cabinet became Italy's youngest government to date, with an average age of 47. It was also the first in which the number of female ministers was equal to the number of male ministers, excluding the Prime Minister. On 22 February, Renzi was formally sworn in as prime minister, becoming the fourth prime minister in four years and the youngest prime minister in the
history of Italy. His rise to become the PD's secretary and eventual prime minister was seen as a sign of much-needed generational change; at the time he took office, Renzi enjoyed by far the highest approval rating of any politician in the country. On 25 February, Renzi won a vote of confidence in the
Italian Parliament, with 169 votes in the
Senate of the Republic and 378 in the
Chamber of Deputies. On 7 February 2015, after just under a year in power, five senators and two deputies from the SC defected to the PD, citing the leadership of Renzi as Prime Minister as the primary reason for their decision to change parties. On 20 March, Prime Minister Renzi briefly became
ad interim Minister of Infrastructure and Transport following the resignation of
Maurizio Lupi due to a corruption scandal, involving public works on infrastructure, in which his name had been cited several times. Renzi held the office on an unofficial basis until 2 April, when
Graziano Delrio was appointed as the new minister. On 4 December 2016, after the failure of the referendum he proposed, Renzi announced his resignation. On 7 December, he officially handed over the resignation to the President
Sergio Mattarella.
Domestic policy Labour reform Upon becoming prime minister, Renzi said that
labour market reform, which was thought to be "long overdue", and was opposed by major
trade unions and
organised labour, to introduce
labour market flexibility, would be at the top of his agenda to improve the state of the
Italian economy. On 12 March 2014, the Renzi Cabinet issued a law-decree on
fixed-term contracts, called the Poletti Decree, from the name of the Labour Minister
Giuliano Poletti, as well as a bill proposing major reforms to the Italian labour market called the Jobs Act. A reduction in the tax burden of about
€80 was announced for those earning less than €1,500 per month. On 30 April, Renzi and
Marianna Madia, the Minister for the Public Administration, presented the guidelines for the reform of the
public administration, which was approved by the Renzi Cabinet on 13 June, before becoming law on 7 August. against Renzi's labour market reforms. In September 2014, the government sought approval for the Jobs Act, which provided for, among other things, the abolition of Article 18 of the
Workers' Statute, which protected workers from unjustified dismissal. The proposal was criticised by organised labour, especially the largest trade union, the
Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), and its leaders
Susanna Camusso and
Maurizio Landini. Moreover, the left wing of the
Democratic Party (PD), by then led by Renzi's rival and former PD secretary
Pier Luigi Bersani, criticised the government for the reform, threatening to vote against it. On 29 September, the National Committee of the PD voted to support the Jobs Act, despite the disagreements within the party, with 130 votes in favour, 20 against, and 11 abstaining. On 9 October, the Senate voted to approve the Jobs Act, and the landmark reform passed with 165 votes in favour to 111 against, marking the first step for the most ambitious economic legislation of the eight-month-old government. Before the vote, Labour Minister Poletti was forced to cut his speech short due to the loud protests of the
Five Star Movement (M5S) and
Lega Nord (Lega) oppositions, some of whom threw coins and papers. German chancellor
Angela Merkel, who was visiting
Milan and had been among the most vocal politicians regarding Italy's need for speedy economic reforms, said the labour law marked an "important step" to reduce "employment barriers" in the
eurozone's third-largest economy. On 25 October, almost one million people took part in a mass protest in
Rome, organised by the CGIL in opposition to the labour reforms of the government. Some high-profile members of the left-wing faction of the PD, including
Gianni Cuperlo,
Stefano Fassina, and
Giuseppe Civati, also participated in the protest. On 8 November, more than 100,000 public employees protested in Rome in a demonstration organised by the three largest trade unions in the country, the CGIL, the
CISL, and the
UIL. On 25 November, the Chamber of Deputies approved the Jobs Act with 316 votes; the M5S, Lega, and almost forty members of the PD abstained from the vote to protest against the reform. On 3 December, the Senate gave the final approval it needed to become law. In January 2017, the Jobs Act was taken to the
Constitutional Court of Italy; Renzi and his supporters said that the law was necessary for job creation and to attract investors, while its critics responded that it diminished
workers' rights without generating new jobs. The court rejected a petition, which received 3.3. million signatures, for a
referendum to be held about the Job Acts. In September 2018, the Jobs Acts was partially repealed after the same court declared the compensation rules for claims of unlawful dismissal to be unconstitutional, on the grounds that these rules were not in line with the principles of "reasonableness and equality" and conflicted with the concept of "protection of work" as granted by Articles 4 and 35. In July 2020, the court accepted the questions raised from the tribunals of Bari and Rome about the same matter, ruling the compensation rules to be in violation of the constitutional principles of equality, reasonableness, and job protection; it was the first time that a ruling was signed by three women.
Economic policies in
Venice In March 2014, the Renzi Cabinet approved the
auctioning of a large number of
luxury cars that were used to transport heads of state, including nine
Maseratis, two
Jaguar Cars, and various other cars such as
BMWs and
Alfa Romeos. Out of the 1,500 cars put up for sale, 170 sold immediately over
eBay. In April, as part of his wider industrial reforms, Renzi forced the chief executives of Italy's biggest state-owned companies, including
Eni,
Terna,
Finmeccanica,
Enel, and
Poste italiane, to resign, citing a lack of public confidence in their leadership. He subsequently appointed women to the majority of new positions, making it the first time any woman had served as a chief executive of a state-owned company in Italy. In April 2014, Renzi's cabinet introduced the so-called "Renzi bonus", a monthly allowance of €80, recognised to holders of a total annual income not exceeding €24,600. The bonus, whose aim was to relaunch expenditures, was heavily criticised by the opposition, which labelled it as an "electoral bak
shish" for the
2014 European Parliament election. On 1 August, Renzi launched a law decree called Unblock Italy, which was intended to facilitate the implementation of major projects, civil works, and infrastructure that were suspended at the time, and achieve further administrative simplification. The centre of this was the
Millegiorni, or the Thousand Days Programme. On 1 September, Renzi launched the website
passodopopasso.italia.it, which allowed citizens to monitor the progress of the
Millegiorni. On 9 October, Renzi presented his first Finance Bill (
Legge di Stabilità), which was approved by the
European Commission on 28 October. A €36 billion bill, it included the largest
tax cuts in a year (€18 billion), as well as
tax evasion fight, plus the €80 bonus; it was criticised by trade unions like the
CGIL, the
CISL, and
FIOM, while the
UIL was more positive and
Confindustria supported it. In February 2015, with the economy continuing to stagnate, the government announced a plan to abolish rules that limit cooperative lenders' shareholders to one vote each at shareholder meetings regardless of the size of their holdings. The European Commission subsequently forecast that the Italian economy would begin to grow by the spring. The government also announced the abolition of IRAP, a regional tax on production activities; discussing the 2016 Finance Bill, Renzi further promised to cancel IRPEF, IMU, and TASI, respectively taxes on individuals, public services, and residence, which was a flagship policy of the centre-right former prime minister
Silvio Berlusconi, and its tax-cutting 2016 budget was passed on 22 December despite concerns from the European Commission. Additionally, Renzi raised the threshold for cash payments three times with the intention to boost the economy, promising that it would not help tax evasion, and described it as "a simple, fair, and liberal measure" that "simplifies" and "encourages consumption". In 2018, Minister of Economy and Finance
Pier Carlo Padoan admitted that it was a mistake. A 2021 study by
Bankitalia/
Palazzo Koch concluded that the decision "increased the share of the illegal economy by 0.5 percentage points" and "a 1% increase in the use of cash leads to growth between 0.8% and 1.8%" of the
black economy. In May 2015, the economy recorded growth of 0.3%, finally ending the Italian triple-dip recession. In January 2016, Renzi highlighted an additional 500,000 jobs that he said had been created through his policies. In October 2016, the Renzi government's proposed 2017 Finance Bill, an expansionary budget including deficit raising to cope with the earthquake and migrants emergencies, was seen as an increasing anti-Brussels rhetoric, having warned of disaster if it was rejected. In an interview with
la Repubblica on 23 October, Padoan said: "Europe must choose which side to take. They can accept the fact that our deficit goes up from 2% to 2.3% (of gross domestic product) to tackle the earthquake and the migrant emergencies. Or they can choose the Hungarian way, which puts up walls against the migrants and must be rejected. That would be the beginning of the end." On 24 October, defending the budget law, Renzi said: "We want to address the needs of Italian citizens, not Brussels technocracy."
Constitutional and electoral reforms Upon becoming prime minister, Renzi stated that one of his most important tasks was to achieve constitutional reforms; by April 2014, Renzi's government presented a constitutional bill of government initiative. The Italian institutional framework had remained essentially unchanged since 1 January 1948, when the
Constitution of Italy first came into force after being enacted by the
Constituent Assembly of Italy on 22 December 1947, and Renzi argued changes were necessary to make governments more stable; the system was created as a result of the
Italian Fascist regime and to avoid such a repeat. The
Italian Communist Party (PCI) pushed for
unicameralism under
proportional representation, being wary of unicameralism under
majoritarian representation to avoid a
tyranny of the majority and like part of the
Italian Socialist Party (PSI) seeing the Senate as a synonym of privilege and prospering in the Fascist regime's shadows, while the
Christian Democracy (DC) party advocated
bicameralism through a
division of powers to avoid one-party hegemony. The
Action Party, the DC, the
Italian Republican Party, and part of the socialists won out over the PCI and dissident socialists, especially about the Senate. The actually-existing system was not the intended result of the assembly, which came about through later political choices and conditions. The first stage of Renzi's reform package aimed to abolish the so-called "
perfect bicameralism", which gave identical powers to the
Chamber of Deputies and the
Senate of the Republic; the reforms would substantially decrease the membership and power of the Senate. Constitutional reforms were in the air since April 2013, when then-President
Giorgio Napolitano instituted a committee for reform to avoid the repeat of inconclusive
legislative elections, as it had happened two months earlier. Under the reforms, the Senate's power to force the resignation of the government by refusing to grant a vote of confidence would be removed; only a few types of bills, including the constitutional bills, constitutional amendments, laws regarding local interests, referendums, and the protection of linguistic minorities, would need to be passed by the Senate. In addition, the Senate could only propose amendments to bills in some cases, with the Chamber of Deputies always having the final word, and the membership of the Senate would be changed, with regional representatives appointed in a manner virtually identical to the
Bundesrat of Germany. On 11 March 2014, the Chamber of Deputies approved both the plans to overhaul the Senate and the second stage of Renzi's constitutional reforms, a flagship electoral reform law that would see Italy's voting system overhauled. On 26 March, despite objections raised by several parties in the coalition, it won a vote in the Senate on the bill reforming the provinces, with 160 voting in favour and 133 against. On 6 May, the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the Senate approved the government's bill on the Senate's reform. Due to the ambitious reforms that provided for the Senate abolition, which would have led to, in the words of Valentino Larcinese, "a shift towards a
de facto quasi-
presidential system embedded in
de jure parliamentary institutions", and an increase in the powers of the Prime Minister, plus a new electoral law, Renzi was accused by constitutionalists and politicians, among them
Stefano Rodotà and
Fausto Bertinotti, of being an authoritarian and anti-democratic leader. Critics like the
centre-left populist
Five Star Movement (M5S) and its founder
Beppe Grillo argued that the reforms would give too much power to the Prime Minister; the former
centre-right prime minister
Silvio Berlusconi, who has been controversial, argued the changes would "lead us straight toward a non-democracy."
The Economist argued that the reforms would result in corrupted politicians being appointed in the Senate. Renzi and his government argued that the constitutional reform was long sought by the PCI and the
political left; political scientist
Nadia Urbinati commented that this was an oversimplification and that it was the
political right that has attacked bicameralism, arguing that the reform had more in common with that of
Lega Nord's
Francesco Speroni in 1994. In April 2014, Renzi proposed that Italy adopt what he called
Italicum, a
proportional representation voting system, with a majority bonus for the party which obtained over 40% of the vote in order to provide for stable and long-term government. To approve the new electoral law, which was opposed by the M5S and a minority of the PD, Renzi gained the support of Berlusconi, who was still the leader of
Forza Italia (FI), despite having been expelled from the Senate due to his sentence for
tax evasion. The alliance between Renzi and Berlusconi was named the
Nazareno Pact, from the name of the street in Rome where the headquarters of the PD is located, where the two leaders met for the first time to discuss the reform. The alliance, which included a secret clause stating that Berlusconi's rival and long-time centre-left leader
Romano Prodi, a founder of the PD, would not become the
president of the Italian Republic, fell apart and was called off by FI, in part due to the election of PD-backed, centre-left candidate
Sergio Mattarella in the
2015 Italian presidential election. Renzi was criticised by many within the PD's left-wing minority for the deal with Berlusconi, as well as by the M5S of Grillo, who said the Nazareno Pact was the proof that there are no differences between the Italian
centre-left and
centre-right. Despite concern from some within the PD,
Italicum was given final approval by the Senate on 27 January 2015 thanks to support from FI senators. On 28 April, concerned that the reform may not pass, Renzi announced he would hold a confidence vote to approve the electoral reform changes. The M5S, FI, and some left-wing PD members opposed this decision, with some seeking to draw comparisons between Renzi and
Benito Mussolini. It would be only the third time that an electoral law was twinned with a confidence vote after Mussolini's
Acerbo law and the DC prime minister
Alcide De Gasperi's "
scam law". On 4 May, the Chamber of Deputies approved Renzi's flagship electoral changes with 334 votes for and 61 votes against, the latter including a faction of the PD. The reform took full effect in July 2016; however, it was found to be partially unconstitutional by the
Constitutional Court of Italy in January 2017, and was then repealed and replaced by the
Italian electoral law of 2017 (
Rosatellum). In a September 2015 interview in New York, Renzi said he did not need Berlusconi's votes for the reform, which he described as "a revolution", to pass. Having passed the Chamber of Deputies on 11 March 2015, the reforms to the Senate that would see its power diminished and membership changed were passed by the Senate on 13 October. The vote was won by 176 votes to 16, with a large number of senators abstaining from the vote in protest at having to vote on abolishing many of their own powers. The last vote was held on 12 April 2016, when the Chamber of Deputies approved the reform with 361 votes, while the opposition abandoned the house. On 4 December, the reform was rejected in the
2016 Italian constitutional referendum and Renzi resigned as a result.
Immigration arriving by boat in Italy from 1997 to 2016 As a result of the
Libyan and
Syrian Civil Wars, a major problem faced by Renzi upon becoming prime minister was the high levels of
illegal immigration to Italy. 2014 saw an increase in the number of migrants rescued at sea being brought to southern Italian ports, with the increase in the number of migrants prompting criticism of Renzi by the anti-immigration
Lega Nord, the
Five Star Movement, and
Silvio Berlusconi's
Forza Italia party. On 8 August, the Renzi Cabinet approved a law-decree providing for the international protection of migrants. In November 2014, Renzi ordered the Italian-run rescue option
Operation Mare Nostrum to be replaced by
Frontex's
Operation Triton due to the refusal of several
EU governments to fund it. In 2014, 170,100 migrants arrived in Italy by sea, a 296% increase compared to 2013. 141,484 of the travellers were ferried over from Libya. Most of the migrants had come from
Syria,
Eritrea, and various countries in
West Africa. From January to April 2015, about 1,600 migrants died on the route from Libya to
Lampedusa, making it the deadliest migrant route in the world. On 19 April 2015, a
migrant shipwreck took place in the
Mediterranean Sea, causing the death of more than 700 migrants from
North Africa. Renzi, returning to
Rome from a political event in
Mantua for the
2015 Italian regional elections, held an emergency meeting with ministers and spoke by telephone to French president
François Hollande, Maltese prime minister
Joseph Muscat, and Greek prime minister
Alexis Tsipras. The call led to an emergency meeting of European interior ministers to address the problem of migrant deaths. In a speech addressing immigration, Renzi condemned
human trafficking as a "new slave trade". About the crisis, Renzi said: "Europe is the greatest political victory of the twentieth century, but it is fuelled by ideals, not by the short-sightedness of those who would raise walls. Europe is in danger of collapsing when it becomes simply a set of self-interests." In January 2016, his Foreign Minister
Paolo Gentiloni said: "A choice must be made between
Dublin and
Schengen. Both agreements cannot hold today."
Same-sex unions On 10 June 2015, the
Chamber of Deputies passed a motion obliging the government to approve a bill regarding civil unions between same-sex couples. Previously, all of the
major political parties in Italy had presented different motions on
civil unions, which were all rejected except for the PD's, which also called for civil unions to be approved. Shortly before becoming prime minister, Renzi stated that he favoured the introduction of civil unions for same-sex couples. In July 2015, several days after the
European Parliament passed a motion calling on all members of the
European Union to recognise same-sex relationships, the
European Court of Human Rights ruled that Italy was violating the
Convention on Human Rights by not recognising
same-sex couples' "right to family life". On 7 October, Renzi introduced a bill to the
Italian Parliament that would establish same-sex civil unions and gender-neutral cohabitation agreements. The bill passed its first reading in the Senate a week later. Although Renzi secured the support of the PD and the main opposition
Forza Italia party, many
conservative and Catholic
members of parliament from both parties, including one of its coalition partners, the
New Centre-Right (NCD), criticised the bill. Despite the bill being put forward on a free vote, Renzi made it clear that he would tie the civil unions bill to a vote of confidence in his government if it did not pass. Following months of public and parliamentary debate, the Senate voted in favour of Renzi's proposals to legalise civil unions on 25 February 2016, with 173 votes in favour and 71 against. An amendment known as the "
stepchild adoption" provision that would have granted parental rights to a non-biological parent in a same-sex union was taken out of the bill at the last moment after it became clear a majority of senators did not support it. Although Renzi had expressed support for the amendment, the decision came after the
Five Star Movement backed out of an agreement to pass it; moreover, the amendment was opposed by the NCD. Renzi stated that the bill's passage through the Senate was a "victory for love", although he expressed disappointment that the stepchild provision was not also adopted, and raised the possibility of introducing it in a separate bill at a later date. On 11 May, the Chamber of Deputies approved the final proposals, with 369 votes in favour and 163 against.
Social policies Renzi's so-called "schools package" was among its 1,000 days reforms to kickstart the Italian economy, and included hiring based on merit rather than seniority, favouring full-time hiring over substitutes, and increasing teachers for disabled children. During a press conference on 3 September 2014, Renzi announced an online consultation with students, teachers, and citizens ahead of the major school reforms promoted by education minister
Stefania Giannini. On 9 July 2015, despite the opposition of an overwhelming majority of teachers and students alike to the design of the school reform, this was finally approved by the Chamber of Deputies, with 277 votes against 173. During a ceremony at the
Italian National Olympic Committee on 1 December 2014, Renzi officially launched the candidacy of
Rome for the
2024 Summer Olympics. Renzi stated: "Our country too often seems hesitant. It's unacceptable not to try or to renounce playing the game.
Sport in Italy is a way of life and a way of looking at the future. I don't know if we’ll make it, but the Olympic candidacy is one of the most beautiful things we can do for our kids, for us, for Italy." On 21 September 2016, the mayor of Rome
Virginia Raggi, a member of the
Five Star Movement, told reporters the bid for the games would go no further. Raggi, having long been opposed to Rome hosting the games, cited ongoing financial troubles in the country as the main reason for cancelling the bid. She said hosting the games would be "irresponsible" and would only cause the city to fall into further debt.
Universal Exposition During Renzi's premiership,
Milan hosted the
Universal Exposition; the themes were technology, innovation, culture, and traditions concerning food. Participants to the Expo, hosted inside the
Expo 2015 pavilions, included 145 countries, three international organisations, several civil society organisations, several corporations, and non-governmental organisations. The opening of the Expo on 1 May 2015 was met with protest from anti-austerity activists,
black bloc, and anarchists caused criminal damage, resulting in the police using
tear gas. Expo also created some tensions with the
Holy See and the Italian government;
Pope Francis condemned the concept of Expo, saying that it "obeys the culture of waste and does not contribute to a model of equitable and sustainable development". As
Vatican City invested €3 million to obtain its own pavilion at the event before his appointment to the papacy, Pope Francis said that although it is a good thing that the Church is involved in causes that battle hunger and promote cleaner energy, too much money was wasted on the Expo itself by Vatican City.
2016 earthquakes , 2016 At 03:36
CEST on 24 August 2016, an earthquake measuring 6.2 on the
moment magnitude scale struck
Central Italy. The
epicentre was close to
Accumoli, in an area near the borders of the
Umbria,
Lazio,
Abruzzo, and
Marche regions. The earthquake killed 298 people and left more than 4,500 homeless. On 1 September, Renzi appointed
Vasco Errani, the former president of
Emilia-Romagna who had been already a Special Commissioner during the
2012 Emilia earthquake, as Special Commissioner for Reconstruction. A magnitude 6.1 intraplate
earthquake struck west of
Visso on 26 October at 21:18 local time (19:18
UTC). The earthquake, which occurred two months after a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in August, struck about to the northwest of the August earthquake's epicentre. The civil protection estimated the consequences less dramatically than feared. According to official data, a man died because he had suffered a heart attack as a result of the quake. A third large, shallow earthquake of
USGS preliminary magnitude 6.6 struck north of
Norcia at 07:40 local time (06:40 UTC) on 30 October. This quake was the largest in Italy in 36 years, since the
1980 Irpinia earthquake. The three earthquakes caused almost 100,000 homeless.
Foreign affairs During his premiership, Renzi faced several challenging foreign policy situations, such as the
European debt crisis, the
civil war in
Libya, the
Russo-Ukrainian War, and the
insurgency of the
Islamic State in the
Middle East. Renzi formed a close relationship with US president
Barack Obama, supporting the
2014 military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant with hundreds of Italian troops and four
Panavia Tornado aircraft, and also supporting
sanctions after the
2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Renzi forged a positive relationship with Japanese prime minister
Shinzō Abe, who praised the economic policies of the Renzi government. A key ally of Renzi in the
Mediterranean was Egyptian president
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi; the two leaders held many bilateral meetings where they discussed the problem of
immigration to Italy and the increasing tensions in the
Middle East and
North Africa. In the
European Union, Renzi had a close relationship with French president
François Hollande and his Prime Minister
Manuel Valls, who saw Renzi as a model for his
Third Way policies.
Europe in 2014 Following the
2014 European Parliament election in Italy, which saw the PD receive the highest number of votes of all the individual political parties contesting that election across the entire
European Union, Renzi subsequently emerged as the most prominent leader of the PES. This was in opposition to German chancellor
Angela Merkel, widely considered the
de facto leader of the
European People's Party; the two leaders have been referred to as
Merkenzi. Renzi and Merkel had many bilateral meetings, the first on 17 March in
Berlin, just a few weeks after Renzi's election as prime minister, where the two leaders discussed important reforms that the Italian government planned to make both in Italy and in the European Union. On 22 January 2015, Merkel visited Renzi in his home city of
Florence, where she publicly lauded the "impressive" reforms carried out by his government. On the following day, the two leaders held a joint press conference in front of
Michelangelo Buonarroti's
David. in 2015 Renzi is seen as an ally of French president
François Hollande of the
Socialist Party. On 15 March 2014, Renzi met Hollande in
Paris, agreeing with him a common economic policy focused not only on the
austerity measures imposed by the so-called
European troika of the
European Commission,
European Central Bank, and
International Monetary Fund but also on more flexible policies to promote economic growth in the
European Union. Renzi is a close personal friend of French prime minister
Manuel Valls, with the two leaders often regarded as being heirs of the
Third Way politics espoused by the likes of
Tony Blair. On 7 January 2015, after the
Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris which caused the death of 17 people, Renzi expressed horror and dismay, offering his best wishes to the people of France, noting his close relationships with the French prime minister and Paris mayor
Anne Hidalgo. On 11 January, he joined more than forty world leaders and three million people in the
Republican marches organised by President Hollande. Renzi built a constructive relationship with the British prime minister
David Cameron of the
Conservative Party. During their first meeting on 1 April 2014, Cameron stated that the reforms planned by Renzi were "ambitious" and that together the two men would be able to change the European Union. On the same day, Renzi also met Blair, the former British prime minister whom Renzi had previously called a political inspiration to him. On 2 October, Renzi held a press conference with Cameron in
10 Downing Street, with Cameron lauding their similar policies to reform the European Union and overcome the economic crisis. On 1 August, following his party's strong showing in the
European Parliament elections, Renzi nominated his Foreign Minister
Federica Mogherini as a candidate to be the new
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in the incoming-European Commission to be led by
Jean-Claude Juncker, the former
Prime Minister of Luxembourg. Mogherini was eventually successfully confirmed as the High Representative, ensuring that Italy controlled one of the two most senior posts in the European Commission. leaders in 2016 In September, Renzi participated in the
2014 Wales summit. Before the official start of the summit, he had discussions with Ukrainian president
Petro Poroshenko, US president
Barack Obama, and the other three leaders of the European
G4 to discuss the crisis with
Russia. This summit was the first held after the Russian military intervention in
Ukraine and the
2014 Iraq conflict with the Islamic State of Caliph
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. On 3 February 2015, Renzi received the newly elected Greek prime minister
Alexis Tsipras of
SYRIZA in Rome. The two leaders held a joint press conference expressing concerns about
austerity measures imposed by the European Commission and stated that
economic growth is the only way to solve the crisis. After the press conference, Renzi presented Tsipras with an Italian tie as a gift. Tsipras, who was notable for refusing to ever wear a tie, thanked Renzi and said he would wear the gift in celebration after
Greece had successfully renegotiated the austerity measures.
United States Similar to his predecessors, Renzi continued the long-standing Italian policy of a close relationship with the
United States, building a partnership with President
Barack Obama. Italy supported the United States in the
military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and participated in the
international sanctions during the Ukrainian crisis against Russia following their invasion of
East Ukraine. at the
White House in October 2016 Renzi met Obama for the first time on 24 March 2014 during the latter's trip to Rome. Renzi also held a joint meeting with Obama,
Pope Francis, and Italian president
Giorgio Napolitano. Obama stated afterwards that he had been impressed by the reforms Renzi wanted to undertake. Renzi himself said that he considered Obama an example of the policies he wanted to achieve. On 22 September, Renzi visited
Silicon Valley in California. In
San Francisco, he met with young Italian emigrants who have created
startup companies in the United States. He also visited the headquarters of
Twitter,
Google, and
Yahoo! to hold talks with chief executives. Renzi was accompanied by former Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and
George Shultz, and by the former American ambassador to Italy
Ronald P. Spogli. He later spoke at
Stanford University as the guest of university president
John L. Hennessy. The following day, Renzi spoke at a
United Nations summit in
New York City, focusing on the problem of
climate change. Following the summit, Renzi met former president
Bill Clinton and his wife, the former Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton. At the end of his trip, Renzi participated in a reception hosted by Obama. Renzi was received at the
White House in April 2015. He and President Obama discussed many issues, including the
war in Donbas, the
Libyan Civil War, and
ISIL. They discussed Europe's economy, the
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, and
climate change and energy security. In October 2015, the Italian government announced that it would prolong its military presence in
Afghanistan along with the
United States Army in order to continue its security mission and prevent the rise of
Islamist forces such as
Al-Qaeda and ISIL. On 18 October 2016, President Obama invited Renzi and his wife
Agnese Landini to attend an official
state dinner at the White House. The two men held a joint press conference during which Obama, the dinner being his final state visit as the United States president, commented that he had "saved the best for last", and the two reiterated their support for one another.
Asia Renzi built up a close relationship with Japanese prime minister
Shinzō Abe; the two Prime Ministers were both against
austerity and seeking to reform the constitutions of their countries. On 6 June 2014, Renzi received Prime Minister Abe in Rome. Abe publicly congratulated Renzi for the economic and constitutional reforms being delivered by Renzi's government. The two leaders also met in
Tokyo in August 2015 and discussed relations with
China and the stability of
East Asia. On 9 June, Renzi travelled to
Hanoi,
Vietnam, to meet with President
Trương Tấn Sang, Prime Minister
Nguyễn Tấn Dũng, and the
Communist Party of Vietnam's general secretary
Nguyễn Phú Trọng to sign economic treaties worth around
US$5 billion to the Italian economy. In doing so, Renzi became the first Italian prime minister to officially visit Vietnam since 1973, when diplomacy first began between Italy and
North Vietnam. During the visit, Renzi placed a wreath in the mausoleum of the former North Vietnamese president
Ho Chi Minh. On 11 June, Renzi met in
Beijing with Chinese president
Xi Jinping, who congratulated him for the "important reforms" being undertaken by his government. Xi also stated that China would continue co-operation with Italy ahead of
Expo 2015 in
Milan. Several months later in October, Renzi met with Chinese prime minister
Li Keqiang in Rome to sign twenty treaties worth a total of €8 billion. On 12 June, Renzi met Kazakh president
Nursultan Nazarbayev in
Astana, where they discussed withdrawal of
Italian Army from
Afghanistan. On 18 November, Renzi travelled to
Ashgabat,
Turkmenistan, where he signed with Turkmen president
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow a number of economic pacts securing increased gas supply.
Africa During his premiership, Renzi started a policy review which led to the creation of the Italy–Africa initiative, which included
renewable energy cooperation and a new package of development aid in fields stretching from health care to culture;
counterterrorism has been a key part of his agenda, but the
East Africa region is also important to stop the migration flows from there to Italy through
North Africa, especially
Libya. On 4 March 2014, Renzi travelled to
Tunisia, where he had a meeting with
Mustapha Ben Jafar. With Jafar, Renzi discussed the problem of
illegal immigration to Italy from the coasts of
North Africa. The trip to Tunisia was the first official one made by Renzi as prime minister. On 18 March 2015, after the
Bardo National Museum attack in
Tunis, in which 28 people died and four of whom were Italians, Renzi condemned the
terrorist attack and said that Italy is close to the Tunisian government and people. On 19 July, Renzi started a major trip to
Africa, meeting the Mozambican president
Armando Guebuza. Renzi signed economic pacts to create investments by the Italian government-owned oil company
Eni in the African country for US$50 billion. The following day, he visited the
Republic of the Congo, where he met Congolese president
Denis Sassou Nguesso, with whom he signed a co-operation for the extraction of
oil in the country. Some journalists like Giuseppe Oddo criticised the meeting with Sassou Nguesso, who is considered one of the more corrupt dictators of Africa. Renzi later met with Angolan president
José Eduardo dos Santos in
Luanda. During the visit, Renzi placed a memorial wreath in the mausoleum of
Agostinho Neto, the first Angolan president. On 24 July, under the direction of Foreign Minister
Federica Mogherini, the government worked for the release of
Mariam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, a Sudanese woman had been who sentenced to death for being a
Christian. Thanks largely to the good relations between
Sudan and
Italy, Ibrahim was released and permitted to fly to Italy on a government plane. On 2 December, Renzi went to
Algiers, where he met Algerian president
Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Prime Minister
Abdelmalek Sellal. With the two leaders of the country, Renzi discussed the
2014 Libyan crisis, immigration from
North Africa, and also about gas imports from
Algeria as an alternative to Russian imports, following the tensions between the European Union and Russia. In January 2016, Renzi continued his policy toward Africa; he had a three-day trip to
Nigeria,
Ghana, and
Senegal. The main tasks of this diplomatic trip were the fight against the
Islamic terrorism and the
European migrant crisis in the
Mediterranean Sea; with Nigerian president
Muhammadu Buhari, Renzi signed an agreement on enhancing co-operation between the
Nigerian Police and the
Italian Police. Renzi has been one of the strongest supporters of Libyan prime minister
Fayez al-Sarraj and of his government of national union. In August 2016,
la Repubblica reported that dozens of
Italian special forces were operating in Libya for training and intelligence activities. These special forces were operating under the direct command of the Prime Minister's office.
Russia at the opening of Russia Day at
Expo 2015 Russia had previously enjoyed a privileged relationship with Italy, particularly under the leadership of
Silvio Berlusconi, who was a personal friend of Russian president
Vladimir Putin. Following the
2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine in
Ukraine, relations worsened. On 2 March, Renzi accused Putin of having committed "an unacceptable violation". During a speech to the
Chamber of Deputies on 19 March, Renzi stated that the
2014 Crimean status referendum was illegal and that the
G8 countries must start co-operating to solve the
2014 Crimean crisis and prevent a return to the
Cold War. In June, he subsequently participated in the
40th G7 summit in
Brussels, the first one held after the suspension of Russia from the G8 following the annexation of
Crimea in March. Renzi phoned Putin on 28 August, asking him to stop the "intolerable escalation" and to reach a peace agreement with Ukrainian president
Petro Poroshenko to stop the
war in Donbas. Renzi and Putin also had a bilateral meeting on 16 October, when Renzi hosted the
Asia–Europe Meeting in
Milan with 53 other leaders of the world. During the
2014 G-20 Brisbane summit on 15 November, the two leaders had another meeting, where they discussed the
war in Donbas but also on the civil wars in
Libya and
Syria. On 5 March 2015, Renzi met President Putin and Prime Minister
Dmitry Medvedev in
Moscow. The talks between the leaders were focused on international issues, such as the settlement of the
Russo-Ukrainian war, the situations in the
Middle East and in
Libya, as well as fighting
terrorism. Putin guaranteed Russian support in case of a
United Nations intervention in Libya against the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Ahead of the bilateral meeting, Prime Minister Renzi visited and laid flowers at the Moscow bridge, near the
Kremlin, on which the Russian opposition leader
Boris Nemtsov was murdered a few days before. Through 2015, Renzi became one of the main supporters of a reduction of
international sanctions against Russia and the establishment of a political and military alliance between the
Western countries and Russia against
Islamic terrorism. Renzi questioned
Nord Stream 2, a new Russia–Germany natural gas pipeline, saying: "I found it surprising that the South Stream project was blocked [the Balkan pipeline
South Stream was cancelled by Russia in December 2014 following obstacles from the EU], while now we are discussing a doubling up of Nord Stream."
Middle East On 2 August 2014, Renzi met with Egyptian president
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in
Cairo, holding talks about a variety of issues, including the
2014 Israel–Gaza conflict. Renzi stated that Italy would support the Egyptian truce proposal, with the two leaders calling for an immediate cease-fire and the beginning of peace negotiations. In making the visit, Renzi became the first
Western world leader to visit President el-Sisi since
2014 Egyptian presidential election. On 15 January 2015, after the Islamic State's conquests in
Libya, Renzi conducted a long phone call with Sisi, to discuss the terrorist threat in the Mediterranean. The two leaders agreed that the next steps should be political and diplomatic efforts through the United Nations. On 11 July, a
car bomb exploded outside the Italian consulate in Cairo, resulting in at least one death and four injured. The Islamic State claimed responsibility. The relations between Italy and Egypt dramatically worsened after the
murder of Giulio Regeni, an Italian
Cambridge University graduate student killed in Cairo following his abduction on 25 January 2016. Regeni was a PhD student at
Girton College, Cambridge, researching independent
trade unions in Egypt. Due to Regeni's research activities and
left-wing political leanings, the security services of el-Sisi's government are strongly suspected of involvement in his murder, although Egypt's media and government deny this and say secret undercover agents belonging to the
Muslim Brotherhood carried out the crime in order to embarrass the Egyptian government and destabilise relations between Italy and Egypt. meeting with Supreme Leader
Ali Khamenei, 12 April 2016 On 20 August 2014, Renzi travelled to
Iraq in the midst of the
insurgency led by the Islamic State. He met with President
Fuad Masum, Prime Minister
Haider al-Abadi, and his immediate predecessor
Nouri al-Maliki. On the same day, Renzi travelled north to
Erbil to meet
Mas'ud Barzani, the president of
Iraqi Kurdistan, and Prime Minister
Nechervan Barzani. Renzi later told an American journalist that what he witnessed during his trip to Iraq reminded him of the images of the
Srebrenica massacre that had horrified him as a child. While Renzi was in Iraq, the
Italian Parliament approved a proposal to arm the
Peshmerga soldiers fighting against the Islamic State. During the 69th
United Nations General Assembly on 23 September, Renzi held a bilateral meeting with the Turkish president
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, at which they discussed
climate change and increasing tensions in the
Middle East. On 11 December, Renzi travelled to
Ankara for a second meeting with Erdoğan, during which Renzi expressed his support for
accession of Turkey to the European Union. On the same day, he met with Turkish prime minister
Ahmet Davutoğlu. On 8 January 2015, Renzi made his first official trip of the year, meeting with Crown Prince
Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan in
Abu Dhabi to address issues of foreign and economic policy, including the
Alitalia-
Etihad Airways deal. The two leaders discussed joint co-operation domains and enhancing trade exchange and co-operation in energy and aerospace. As Prime Minister, Renzi had good relations with both Israeli prime minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president
Mahmoud Abbas. On 21 and 22 July 2015, he visited first
Jerusalem, where he met with Netanyahu and addressed the
Knesset, and then
Ramallah, where he met with Abbas. Renzi was the first leader to visit
Israel after the
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the deal reached between
P5+1 and
Iran. Whereas Netanyahu criticised the deal, Renzi supported it, saying that "Israel's security is the security of Europe and mine as well." In January 2016, Renzi met with Iranian president
Hassan Rouhani in Rome, the first visit to Italy by a
President of Iran since 1999. The two leaders signed business deals worth up to €17 billion. They also discussed the war against the Islamic State in the
Middle East and
Libya. On 13 and 14 April, he became the first Western leader to visit Iran after the international agreement on the
nuclear program of Iran. In Iran, Renzi met both President Rouhani and Supreme Leader
Ali Khamenei.
Latin America in
Mexico City, 22 April 2016 After announcing an increase in Italian investment in
Central America and
South America, Renzi undertook a number of official trips across the continent, travelling to
Chile,
Peru, and
Colombia in October 2015. During his visit to
Santiago, Renzi and Chilean president
Michelle Bachelet launched a large number of renewable energy projects promoted by the Italian multinational
Enel. Renzi also visited the
European Southern Observatory of
Paranal in the
Atacama Desert. During these trips, Renzi had numerous meetings with communities of Italian-born Latin Americans in these countries. In a surprise visit on 28 October, Renzi became the first Italian prime minister in history to make a state visit to
Cuba. In doing so, he also became the first
G7 leader to meet Cuban president
Raúl Castro following the
United States–Cuban Thaw of relations between the United States and Cuba. In February 2016, Renzi met Argentine president
Mauricio Macri during a state visit to
Buenos Aires; Renzi became the first European leader to meet Macri after the
2015 Argentine general election and the first Italian prime minister since
Romano Prodi in 1998 to visit Argentina. During his premiership, Renzi has also developed close relationship with Mexican president
Enrique Peña Nieto. ==After the premiership (2016–present)==