Italian lawmakers elected Sergio Mattarella, a constitutional court judge and veteran centre-left politician, as president on Saturday, handing a welcome political victory to Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Reuters reported. Mattarella, speaking at his office in the Constitutional Court after the vote, said: "My first thoughts are of the difficulties and hopes of our citizens." He later visited the site in Rome where German troops killed 335 Italians in World War Two, saying that Europe must unite to battle terrorism the same way allied nations banded together to defeat "Nazi hate, racism, anti-Semitism, and totalitarianism". The election shows the 40-year-old Renzi in firm control of both his fractious party and his allies in the ruling majority as he seeks to pass reforms aimed at underpinning an economic recovery in Italy, where unemployment is soaring after six years of on-off recession. -- SPA 21:09 LOCAL TIME 18:09 GMT تغريد
