Mario Monti took over as Italy's new prime minister and appointed
himself finance minister on today as he unveiled a technocratic cabinet
to rescue the eurozone heavyweight from bankruptcy.
The former European commissioner said his new team would focus "on
coordinated initiatives for economic growth and development," as he
announced he had formally accepted the nomination to replace Silvio
Berlusconi.
"It will be a race," the 68-year-old economist told reporters.
Monti,
who is due to be formally sworn in at 1600 GMT, also said he would
outline his economic programme on Thursday with intense pressure from
financial markets and international leaders to act speedily to implement
reforms.
The new government will go to a confidence vote in parliament on Thursday.
"We
have had many signals of encouragement from our European partners and
the international community. I believe all this will translate into... a
calming of the market difficulties concerning our country," he said.
Corrado
Passera, chief executive of Italy's biggest retail bank Intesa
Sanpaolo, will also head up a reinforced economic development and
transport and infastructures ministry charged with boosting the anaemic
growth rate.
Like Monti, the 56-year-old Passera is an alumnus of
Milan's prestigious Bocconi University -- the training ground for
Italy's financial elite.
As he scrambled to put together his
cabinet this week, Monti sought to build consensus around the idea that
Italians will have to make "sacrifices" to exit the debt crisis and has
called for "economic, social and civil growth."
He has won
endorsements from all of Italy's main political forces but he faces a
major challenge in steering a course through a fractious political
world, with particularly intense sniping from Berlusconi's allies.
There
had been speculation until the last minute over whether or not
political representatives would be included in the new cabinet.
"During
my consultations I reached the conclusion that the non-inclusion of
politicians in my government will actually help it," he said.
The
Berlusconi-owned Il Giornale daily was scathing however, with a headline
saying: "He Can't Last Long." Some loyalists from Berlusconi's People
of Freedom party have called for the return of the colourful
billionaire.
The softly-spoken Monti has meanwhile garnered
support of more than half of Italians according to a poll by IPR
Marketing, which said 53 percent favour him -- though many right-wing
voters are still upset over Berlusconi's exit.
Tense markets
fluctuated before and after today's nomination, with the rate on Italian
10-year government bonds hovering around the 7.0-per cent warning
threshold that has set off alarm bells around Europe and beyond.
Stock market investors also appeared cautious, with Milan at around zero.
Despite
his 10-year stint in Brussels, the technocrat has never held office in
Italy but has already shown mettle by insisting that his government has
to stay in power until 2013 -- the scheduled date for the next general
election.
As European commissioner, Monti famously fined US
technology giant Microsoft nearly 500 million euros (USD 672 million at
current exchange rates) and blocked a massive USD 42-billion merger
between General Electric and Honeywell.
The departing Berlusconi
reportedly spent his last day in office packing up gifts -- a scimitar
from Kazakhstan and a Ming dynasty vase from China, which the jocular
premier had famously pretended to drop to the horror of diplomats.
After
dominating Italian politics for nearly two decades, Berlusconi has made
it clear he had no intention of retiring and pledged on Saturday to
never give up on the land he loves.
No comments:
Post a Comment