He’s young, he’s smart and appears to have the infinite patience required to deal with the petty infighting that has defined Italy’s political landscape since inconclusive elections produced a hung Parliament in February. But when the new Italian centre-left Prime Minister Enrico Letta this week pledged to pursue policies to get the country’s economy moving and create jobs, many Italians were wondering whether he would retain his own job long enough to complete the task.

The 46-year-old easily won a parliamentary confidence vote on Tuesday with the backing of his centre-left Democratic Party, former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party and the centrists led by former technocrat leader Mario Monti. But therein lies the problem.

“I am a pessimist,” said Marco Grezzi, a 33-year-old lawyer from the tiny town of Latronico in the poor southern region of Basilicata told Crikey. “Mr Letta cannot do much because his majority depends on Mr Berlusconi, and he can withdraw his support whenever he wants. You can’t do much when the government is made up of conflicting interests.”

Speaking ahead of the confidence vote in the lower house this week, Letta said Italy could not afford to focus only on austerity or cutting its ballooning public debt but needed a new direction to lift the economy out of recession. Some 3 million Italians are unemployed, and nearly 2 million children are living in poverty — the highest number in Europe — according to figures released by UNICEF last year. Thousands of young people are fleeing the country in search of work and families have been forced to drastically cut their household spending to survive.

“We will die of fiscal consolidation alone, growth policies cannot wait any longer,”  Letta said this week.

In Basilicata, where 600,000 people rely on agriculture, tourism or government jobs, Letta’s vision appeared to have little impact as three local councillors were placed under arrest for an expenses rort that has rocked the cash-strapped region.

“The situation is not good here,” said Grezzi. “A local TV channel reported around 200 businesses closed in the region recently and there is a huge structural gap in the economy unlike neighbouring Puglia, which is more dynamic.”

Born in Pisa, Letta is a former member of the European Parliament and speaks fluent French and English. Originally a member of the now defunct Christian Democrats, he first became a minister at the age of 32 and served in four centre-left governments.

But while he is the youngest prime minister in Italy in a generation, voters are still understandably suspicious of his pedigree.

One Rome taxi driver burst out laughing when I asked him what he thought about the latest political changes. “What changes?”

Perhaps he’s right. Anointed by President Giorgio Napolitano, Letta is the nephew of Gianni Letta, Berlusconi’s right-hand man and one of the shrewdest behind-the-scenes political operators in the country. The billionaire media tycoon himself missed out on a cabinet position, but his five nominees all scored posts — his close ally Angelino Alfano is deputy prime minister, which antagonised the left and provoked an outburst from maverick comedian-turned-political leader Beppe Grillo.

Grillo said the 8 million Italians who voted for his rebel Five Star Movement at the recent elections had been disenfranchised by the cabinet negotiations, comparing them to a “bunga bunga o-gy” in a clear reference to Berlusconi’s alleged s-x parties.

As Letta jetted off for his individual talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, financial markets reacted positively to his appointment sending bond yields down and share prices up. But his biggest battles still lie ahead as he struggles to maintain the unity of his government — already pledging to slash taxes and charges worth a potential 6 billion euros without indicating how he will reduce the public debt.

The biggest winner so far in all this is Berlusconi. The centre-left Democratic Party won the national elections but is now bitterly divided and at risk of disintegrating altogether, while Berlusconi’s popularity has spiked. He can withdraw his support and bring on early elections at any time.

But James Walston, professor of international relations at Rome’s American University, says that seems unlikely for now. “Political instability would lead to economic instability, which would hurt his already weak Mediaset [broadcast empire]. So he will probably not be back in power this year.”