Profile: Paolo Gentiloni – a safe pair of hands for Italy

Paolo Gentiloni, Italy's newly appointed prime minister, is nothing if not a "safe pair of hands". It is indicative that when commentators go looking for a nickname for him, they come up with the hardly flattering terms of "Mr Camomile" and "Mr Prudent".

When 62-year-old Gentiloni had finished his "job interview" this morning with President Sergio Mattarella, he could have walked home within five minutes had he so wished. The point is that Gentiloni was born into the noble lineage of the Gentiloni Silveri who just happen to have a palazzo round the corner from the Quirinale, the presidential palace.

A far-left student activist, Gentiloni later worked in journalism, concentrating on environmental issues. It was in that guise that he met his first, and arguably most significant, political mentor in the former mayor of Rome and one-time prominent Green, Francesco Rutelli.

Having served in the Rome administration under Rutelli, the new prime pinister then joined him and others in the 2002 foundation of the “Margherita” or

Tried and failed

Daisy party, which comprised many members of the left wing of the old Christian Democrat party. Via the Margherita, Gentiloni then ended up in government in the 2006-2008 executive of Romano Prodi, serving as minister for communications.

In that role, he tried (and failed) to contain the media dominance of tycoon and Forza Italia leader, Silvio Berlusconi, when attempting to force one of Berlusconi's three terrestrial channels, Rete 4, on to a satellite package.

At that time, too, he called Berlusconi "one of the main problems of the Italian news firmament", pointing out the anomalous situation whereby, when he was in power, Berlusconi controlled 80 per cent of terrestrial television in Italy.

Ironically, one of the key factors in his appointment today is the fact that he now has the blessing of Berlusconi, who sees him as an obstacle in the path of his one time-ally and now loathed rival, Matteo Renzi.

If Gentiloni owes much to Rutelli, he arguably owes even more to Renzi. He had the political nous to hitch himself on to the Renzi bandwagon early in the rise and rise of the young Florentine. He got his reward for that in October 2014 when he was appointed minister of foreign affairs in place of Federica Mogherini, who had moved on to become EU foreign affairs representative.

Public profile

In all of his time in political life, Gentiloni has by and large steered well clear of controversy. His public profile was so limited that when he contested the Rome mayoral elections of 2012 as the Renzi-sponsored PD candidate, he earned just 15 per cent of the vote as opposed to the 55 per cent returned by the winner, his party colleague Ignazio Marino.

As minister of foreign affairs for the last two years, he has earned himself a reputation as a very safe pair of hands. His prudent handling of two of the most delicate issues that came across his desk, namely the killing of Italian student Giulio Regeni in Cairo early this year and the fate of two Italian marines arrested in India in 2012 on homicide charges, frustrated the family relatives but it may in the end have yielded results, in terms of ongoing dialogue.

As prime minister, Gentiloni represents a serious contrast with his predecessor. Under him, Italy may have moved from the Power Point presentation to the biro pen, from the impetuous to the careful, from reform to immobility and from the shout to the whisper.

In the present circumstances, this may not be an entirely negative development.