Italian PM outlines ambitious reform plan

Italy’s Matteo Renzi was nominated to be the European Union’s youngest prime minister and immediately outlined an ambitious reform plan, promising “energy, enthusiasm and commitment” to revitalise the eurozone’s third largest economy.

The 39-year-old mayor of Florence said his first priority would be to tackle unemployment levels and pitiful economic growth, promising Italians he would do everything possible to alleviate “despair”.

The head of the leftist Democratic Party has raised hopes in a country thirsting for change after ousting ex-premier Enrico Letta — a member of his own party whom he accused of failing to live up to reform pledges.