Will the new prime minister of Italy be able to fix Italy's economic problems?

Not one damn bit.

Appears NOT !!

DETROIT / MILAN (Reuters) - Carmaker Fiat's first-quarter profit slumped more than expected as its U.S. unit Chrysler's sales suffered from the phase-out of the Jeep Liberty pending a new model launch.

"We knew we would be limping in the quarter. I just didn't think I was going to limp that much," said Sergio Marchionne, chief executive of both Chrysler and its parent Fiat, on a conference call with analysts and reporters.

Marchionne in January warned that Chrysler's first-quarter earnings would be down from a year earlier because of the expense of product launches and the fact that the Jeep Liberty SUV was no longer being produced.

The Liberty's successor, the Jeep Cherokee, was not sold in the first quarter and will not be sold until the third quarter.

But Marchionne said that there were delays in the production launches of the Jeep Grand Cherokee and RAM heavy duty trucks, which he said are among the highest profit-makers.

[ Thanks to Obama ] Fiat, which took control of the third-largest U.S. automaker when Chrysler emerged from a government-sponsored bankruptcy four years ago, stood by its financial forecasts for 2013 despite a worsening European car market and lower revenue in the U.S. for the first quarter.

Fiat sees full-year revenue in the 88 billion euro to 92 billion euro range, trading profit between 4 billion and 4.5 billion euros, and net industrial debt of about 7 billion euros.

Analysts had expected a weak quarter for the combined group, and the results came in below consensus.

Trading profit was 618 million euros, below the 720 million euros forecast by 21 analysts published on Fiat's website. Pre-tax profit came in at 160 million euros, compared to a forecast of 300 million euros by analysts.

At Chrysler, first-quarter net income fell 65 percent to $166 million from $473 million a year earlier. Net revenue slipped 6 percent to $15.4 billion.

Net debt was 7.10 billion euros, in line with forecasts, and higher than the 6.5 billion euros at the end of 2012.

Citi Research analyst Harald Hendrikse said the quarter's results again highlight Fiat's difficult debt issue.

"With debt at current levels, the company cannot compete in this industry longer term against giants like Volkswagen AG spending 16 billion euros on capital expenditures and research and development," said Citi in a note.

Italy has been a particularly weak player in a weakening region for auto sales.

I see that all IS FIXED-- he sides with the GERMANS.

pensions

nope and he probably won't last long