Renzi: the next prime minister? BALDING and bespectacled, Italy’s prime minister, Enrico Letta, does not immediately bring to mind a lion. But on December 11th, seeking a renewed vote of confidence from parliament, he vowed to fight like one for the survival of his government and its programme of political and economic reform. Mr Letta was testing his support after Silvio Berlusconi led most of his followers out of the governing majority last month. The prime minister won the backing of both houses, with a majority in the senate of 46 votes.The left-right coalition is thus safe for the moment. But outside parliament the political landscape is changing rapidly and often confusingly. In little over a week, Italy has emerged from its longest post-war recession; gained a new and disturbing protest movement; lost its electoral law; and seen the start of a revolution at the top of its biggest party.On December 10th government statisticians revised upwards their estimate of the change in GDP in the third quarter, to zero. That would make it the first three-month period since the spring of 2011 in which the economy has not shrunk. But news…
