ROME, July 15 (Reuters) - Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani was elected on Saturday as leader of Forza Italia, the conservative party founded 29 years ago by billionaire media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi who died last month.
"I am receiving an almost impossible inheritance," he told the Rome gathering of Forza Italia's national, European and local representatives.
Forza Italia is the junior partner among the three main parties in Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government, behind the premier's own Brothers of Italy and Matteo Salvini's League.
Recent polls put Forza Italia's support at about 7%, behind the League on around 10% and Brothers of Italy close to 30%.
After beginning his political activity in a tiny monarchist movement in the 1980s, Tajani joined Forza Italia when it was founded in 1994 and was Berlusconi's spokesman in his first government that year.
Persons:
Antonio Tajani, Silvio Berlusconi, Tajani, Berlusconi, Matteo Salvini's, Gavin Jones, David Holmes
Organizations:
Forza Italia, Forza Italia's, League, Thomson
Locations:
Italy, Brussels, Rome, Giorgia