PM Letta to start talks on government

ROME: Italy's Prime Minister-designate Enrico Letta said on Wednesday he would begin talks to form an administration on Thursday but said support from other parties was needed and the government would not be formed "at all costs".

Immediately after President Giorgio Napolitano gave him a mandate to form a government at the Quirinale Palace, Letta said he would focus on jobs and helping small business as well as much-needed institutional reforms.

He said the European Union had focused too heavily on austerity policies and more needed to be done to promote economic growth.