Brussels, 14/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - Consultations were under way on Friday 14 February between the president of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano, and the speakers of the two chambers after the resignation of the Italian prime minister, Enrico Letta, and his government on 13 February. These consultations were expected to end on Saturday morning so that a new government could be formed without delay, probably headed by the current secretary general of Enrico Letta's Partito Democratico, Mayor of Florence Matteo Renzi. On Thursday, Letta lost a vote of confidence within his party, despite his popularity in Brussels, because of his over-cautious approach to boosting the Italian economy. His young rival, Renzi, wants to get things moving and is planning to head a new government until the next elections, scheduled for 2018, by which time he hopes to reform the country's constitution and election laws. Like Letta, he feels the constitution and election laws are largely responsible for the political instability in Italy. Meanwhile, Europe's eyes are fixed on Rome, fearing that a new political crisis will cause negative feelings on the money markets that could impact on the eurozone as a whole. The German government commented that it was following events in Italy very closely, describing the country as a very important and very close partner of Germany's within the eurozone. (FG/transl.fl)