Premier Matteo Renzi on
Tuesday saluted President Giorgio Napolitano, who is expected to
resign on Wednesday, in his speech in the European Parliament
closing Italy's six-month duty presidency of the EU.
Renzi paid tribute to Napolitano as a "convinced
Europeanist, who will leave his post within hours" prompting
warm applause from the MEPs in Strasbourg.
Napolitano, 89, became the first former communist to be
elected head of state in 2006.
He made history again in 2013, when he reluctantly agreed
to become to the first Italian president to be re-elected to
avert a political crisis, after parliament failed to vote in a
successor.
Napolitano always said that he would not serve all of his
second seven-year term, but vowed to guarantee stability in the
country's top institutional positions until the end of Italy's
duty presidency of the EU.
Renzi said that during his presidency, he had helped Italy
face its difficulties "with intelligence and wisdom".
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