Sexy ministers deserve a second look

09 September 2014 - 02:02 By ©The Daily Telegraph
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RULES OF ATTRACTION: Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi with the Minister for Constitutional Reforms and Parliamentary Relations, Maria Elena Boschi, in Rome
RULES OF ATTRACTION: Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi with the Minister for Constitutional Reforms and Parliamentary Relations, Maria Elena Boschi, in Rome
Image: MAX ROSSI/REUTERS

His age, family life and political inclinations may be sharply at odds with those of Silvio Berlusconi, but Italy's latest prime minister, Matteo Renzi, has been accused of appointing female ministers based purely on their looks and youth - just like his playboy predecessor.

"I believe some of the ministers were chosen because they are young and also good-looking," said Rosy Bindi, a grande dame of Renzi's Democratic Party.

Renzi, 39, became prime minister in February after leading an internal party coup against his predecessor, and formed a government that was remarkable for its youth and high proportion of women. Of the 16 members of the cabinet, eight are women.

Bindi has been judged on her looks in the past. Five years ago, during a political confrontation, Berlusconi said on national television that she was "prettier than she is intelligent" - implying that she was neither.

Her remarks about young female politicians were interpreted as being particularly aimed at Maria Elena Boschi, the minister for reform.

At 33, she is the youngest member of the cabinet. Her outfits, particularly the figure-hugging trouser suits she favours, are regularly pored over by the Italian media. But she has surprised her early detractors by doggedly pushing through parliament a complex plan to reform the senate, the upper house of parliament.

She is not the only young, photogenic minister in Renzi's government; there is also Federica Mogherini, 41, the foreign minister who was recently designated the European Union's new foreign policy chief, and Marianna Madia, the 34-year-old minister for public administration.

Said Boschi: "I believe that we will be judged on how good we are, not how good-looking we are ."

Bindi's remarks were "an old-fashioned way of looking at things", added Debora Serracchiani, the deputy secretary of the Democratic Party and another politician noted for her looks and youth.

"Beauty has nothing to do with it. The ministers were chosen because they are competent and capable," she told La Repubblica.

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