MILAN (AP) — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi pledged Monday to accelerate his government’s reform course after receiving a boost in European elections that helped Italy join Germany as the continent’s strongest pro-EU forces.

Renzi’s Democratic Party won 40.8 percent of the Italian vote for European Parliament, fortifying Renzi’s push to overhaul Italy’s economy and bureaucracy. The Democratic Party’s tally was nearly twice the 21 percent garnered by its nearest rival, the anti-euro 5-Star Movement, and also far above Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, which won 16.8 percent.

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