FM Gentiloni named Italy's new PM

Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni was named Dec. 11 as Italy's new prime minister following reformist leader Matteo Renzi's resignation in the wake of a crushing referendum defeat.

Gentiloni, who had been Renzi's foreign minister, was asked by President Sergio Mattarella to form a new government that will guide Italy to elections due by February 2018, a presidency spokesman announced, according to AFP.

Gentiloni, 62, is seen as a close ally of Renzi who is unlikely to get in the way of the outgoing premier's plans for a political comeback.

Renzi remains leader of his Democratic Party (PD) and has made it clear he plans to fight the next election as its candidate to head a new government.

Gentiloni now has to put together his own government line up which is expected to be put to a parliamentary confidence vote on Dec. 14.

Mattarella had vowed Dec. 10 to move quickly to fill the void created by Renzi's departure, saying the country urgently needed a new administration to handle a string of pressing problems.

Chief among those is a looming crisis in the troubled banking sector and ongoing relief efforts after a series of deadly earthquakes between August and October.