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Italy's Monti to map out reform plans ahead of vote

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Published 17 November 2011, updated 18 November 2011

Italy’s caretaker government led by Mario Monti is expected to outline new austerity measures aimed at restoring confidence in Italy's strained public finances today when the newly appointed prime minister goes before the Senate to seek a vote of confidence.

The former European Commissioner, who took office yesterday (16 November), will present his programme in the Senate at midday before a confidence vote in the evening. He will seek a separate vote of confidence in the lower house on Friday.

With Italy at the heart of the eurozone debt crisis, the measures he announces are unlikely to be enough on their own to rebuild shattered market confidence.

But they will be vital to restoring credibility with international partners who had long lost patience with the repeatedly unfulfilled promises of Monti's predecessor Silvio Berlusconi.

Monti took the key economy and finance portfolio himself and appointed Corrado Passera, chief executive of Intesa Sanpaolo, one of Italy's big two banks, as industry minister in an unelected cabinet which contained no politicians.

He gave nothing away when asked about his programme, but the broad thrust of the measures is expected to match closely reform demands made by European authorities to Berlusconi's centre-right government.

Reforming a system that allows many Italians to claim a pension before the age of standard retirement age of 65 and loosening hiring and firing rules that protect some workers but discourage job creation are among possible measures.

There has also been speculation about a wealth tax on privately held assets, possibly including first homes, a measure that has been strongly opposed by Berlusconi's centre-right party but which unions and the left have urged repeatedly.

Monti said yesterday he was confident his new government would help restore confidence to panicked financial markets, but the task he faces was underlined by the continued surge in Italian bond yields.

Yields on 10-year bonds were above 7%, near the levels that forced Greece and Ireland to seek an international bailout, which would overwhelm the eurozone's current financial defences if it were needed by Italy, the bloc's third largest economy.

EU hails technocrat government

The appointment of Monti, a sober and reserved economist and tough negotiator with a decade of experience as European commissioner, was greeted with palpable relief by foreign leaders exasperated by the scandal-plagued Berlusconi.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy welcomed the appointment and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would meet Monti as soon as possible.

Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the eurozone finance ministers group, said he was particularly pleased that the prime minister had taken the finance portfolio himself and said Monti was "the man for the situation".

"The rapid implementation of all the measures voted recently by the Italian parliament must be a priority to return the country to the path of political credibility," he said in a statement.

The growing threat that Italy's stagnant economy will slip into recession next year will make it increasingly difficult to keep control of its huge public debt, which amounts to 120% of gross domestic product, the second highest in the eurozone behind Greece.

International authorities including the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund have kept up pressure on Italy to cut its debt and reform its economy but Monti will need the backing of parliament.

Monti has said he wants to serve until the next scheduled elections in 2013 but the refusal of the main parties to allow politicians to join his cabinet could make it harder to gain popular support for measures designed by unelected technocrats.

EurActiv.com with Reuters

COMMENTS

  • With Mario Draghi, Mario Monti and Lucas Papademos we now have three Goldman Sachs boys in charge of the EU rescue mission. We are in safe hands :)
    Read http://3eintelligence.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/who-is-taking-over-europe-technocrats-or-goldman-sachs/

    By :
    Willy De Backer
    - Posted on :
    17/11/2011
Mario Monti and his predecessor Silvio Berlusconi
Background: 

Italy's mix of chronically low growth, a public debt mountain of €1.84 trillion, or 120% of GDP, and a struggling governing coalition are causing growing alarm on financial markets.

The country, which has been politically unstable for years, would need at least €600 billion in the case of a bailout, more than the balance of the eurozone's current bailout fund.

Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi last month pushed through a €60-billion austerity package – bringing forward its original balanced-budget target by one year – in return for the European Central Bank's support for its battered government bonds market.

However, doubts remained over the government's ability to implement these austerity measures. Last week, the European Commission revised Italy's economic forecasts downward when it published its biannual projections for the EU and the eurozone (10 November). This hinted at the fact that Italy needed to adopt new austerity measures.

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