Italy President Napolitano departs, setting challenge for Renzi
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - Italian President Giorgio Napolitano handed in his resignation as head of state on Wednesday, leaving Prime Minister Matteo Renzi with the politically delicate task of finding a successor.
The 89-year-old Napolitano, widely respected outside Italy as a guarantor of stability during the euro zone crisis, had always been expected to step down before the end of his second term in office because of his advanced age.
With elections in Greece due later this month and the European Central Bank under growing pressure to take unprecedented steps to fight the risk of deflation, the change adds to an increasingly uncertain climate in the euro zone.
Italy is struggling to emerge from years of recession and the government faces a series of hurdles to its economic and constitutional reform agenda.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/14/us-italy-president-idUSKBN0KN0W320150114
