Italy’s youngest PM sworn in

ROME—Italian center-left leader Matteo Renzi took office on Saturday as his country’s youngest prime minister, facing pressure to show immediate results after he forced out his predecessor over the slow pace of economic reforms.

The 39-year-old Renzi has named a low-profile list of ministers, with a mix of politicians and technocrats that include no figures capable of challenging his control of the government. Its success or failure will therefore be seen as his responsibility alone.

With an average age under 48, the 16-member cabinet is one of the smallest and youngest in recent Italian history. Half its members are women, the highest proportion ever, underlining the image of a fresh start on which Renzi has built his reputation.

But he faces a huge challenge with the euro zone’s third largest economy struggling to emerge from its worst slump since World War II, weighed down by a 2-trillion-euro ($2.75 trillion) public debt and an industrial base that has crumbled over the past decade.

Business and union leaders have repeatedly warned that the government must take urgent action to save Italy’s ailing industry, with thousands of companies going out of business and millions put out of work.

“The responsibility is enormous and this must not fail,” said Rocco Palombella, secretary general of the UILM union, which represents workers in the engineering sector. “If it does, there will be no appeal,” he said in a statement.

Renzi, who won the leadership of the center-left Democratic Party only in December, forced his party rival, Enrico Letta, to resign the prime ministership last week after repeatedly attacking him for not moving more quickly on economic reforms.

The new prime minister has laid out an ambitious agenda for his first months in office.