Leftist Government Gets Nod in Italy
Italy’s president formally opened the way to the country’s first leftist government in half a century with his appointment Thursday of Romano Prodi, an economist who has never held major elected office, as prime minister designate.
Prodi, who led the center-left Olive Tree alliance to victory in last month’s general election, received his mandate at the Quirinale Palace after two days of talks between President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro and political parties.
The appointment, a foregone conclusion, would establish Italy’s 55th postwar government.
Prodi pledged to announce a Cabinet “in the shortest possible time.”
Formerly chairman of the state industrial holding company IRI, Prodi, 56, led the Olive Tree alliance to victory in the April election, Italy’s third in four years.
The new lineup will bring into government the large Democratic Party of the Left, successor to the mighty Italian Communist Party, which was shut out of power soon after World War II.
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