Italy's Renzi set to unveil new cabinet
Friday, February 21, 2014.
By Massimiliano Di Giorgio and Stefano Bernabei ROME (Reuters) - Italian center-left leader Matteo Renzi is close to naming the members of his government, with OECD Chief Economist Pier Carlo Padoan set to take the key economy ministry portfolio, sources close to the negotiations said on Friday. Renzi is expected to meet President Giorgio Napolitano at 4 p.m. (1500 GMT) on Friday to confirm his cabinet list, allowing the government to be sworn in by the weekend, ahead of a confidence vote in parliament expected on Monday. "He's got it, he'll be the finance minister," one OECD source told Reuters. Padoan, a respected former International Monetary Fund official, will be the third technocrat in a row at the ministry, the key contact point with the European Central Bank and European Union partners and an important factor in maintaining foreign investor confidence.