Italy ex-PM Renzi takes on role as newspaper editor

ROME — Italian ex-prime minister Matteo Renzi said on Wednesday (April 5) he would take up a new job as the editor of a newspaper — without quitting his political career as a senator and leader of a centrist party.

He will lead Il Riformista, a small libertarian newspaper known for its criticism of Italy's justice system, a subject on which Renzi has written a book.

"I will be editor for a year, from May 3 to April 30, 2024, and then we'll see what I'll do when I grow up," the 48-year-old politician said in a news conference in Rome.

Renzi led a centre-left government in 2014-2016. He resigned after losing a constitutional referendum, and stayed as leader of the Democratic Party until a 2018 election defeat.

He later set up the Italy Alive party that took about eight per cent in last year's parliamentary vote, in coalition with another group, earning him re-election to the Senate, the upper house.

Lawmakers are allowed to have jobs outside politics in Italy. Renzi also earns money on the conference circuit and by sitting on the board of a Saudi Arabian institute.

In his latest tax returns, published on the website of the Senate, Renzi declared earnings of more than 2.5 million euros (S$3.6 million) for 2021.