Mario Monti: "A future of dignity and hope" for Italy's children
Mr Monti's appointment is favoured in financial circles
Mr Monti's appointment is favoured in financial circles
Mario Monti is starting work to form a new government to lead Italy out of its acute debt crisis which prompted the resignation of PM Silvio Berlusconi.
The appointment of Mr Monti, an ex-EU commissioner, was announced by Italy's president on Sunday.
Mr Monti said he wanted to build "a future of dignity and hope" for Italy's children.
The first test of his appointment will come with the opening of European financial markets on Monday.
Asian stocks have already risen in early trading. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index surged to 2.4% and the euro rose against the dollar on Asian markets.
Another test on Monday will come when Italian government bonds are auctioned.
The interest rate at which the bonds sell will reflect whether the markets have confidence in Mr Monti's ability to rescue Italy from debt.
The former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, was forced to resign when the yield on Italian bonds rose to over 7% last week, the rate at which Greece, Ireland and Portugal were obliged to seek bailouts from the EU.
'Strength not weakness'Mr Monti, a 68-year-old economics professor, refused to set a timetable for the formation of a new government, and would not say who he planned to nominate as ministers. But he said consultations would start on Monday.
The formal confirmation of the new technocratic government could take several days.
Italy's borrowing costs have spiked, threatening the eurozone. Hailing Mr Monti's appointment, EU leaders vowed to monitor Italy's austerity measures.
President Giorgio Napolitano held 17 meetings with senior politicians before nominating Mr Monti as Prime Minister.
Most parties, including Mr Berlusconi's, approved his nomination.
Speaking to reporters shortly afterwards, Mr Monti said: "Italy must again be and must increasingly be an element of strength, not weakness, in a European Union that we helped found and in which we should be protagonists."
"We will aim at solving the financial situation and resume the path of growth, while remaining attentive to social equity".
Mr Monti promised he would act "with urgency" and said he would work with parliament "to get out quickly from a situation which has elements of an emergency but which Italy can overcome with a united effort".
Mr Napolitano said the nomination was not about overturning the result of the elections of 2008 - but Italy needed a government that "could unite the diverse political forces in an extraordinary effort warranted by the current financial and economic emergency".
Asked about the lifespan of a Monti government, Mr Napolitano said this depended on "the actions of the government, the reaction of the economy, of the markets, investors, of the European and international institutions".
'Encouraging signal'Most centrists and centre-left parties in the opposition have already pledged their support.Speaking in a recorded TV address, Mr Berlusconi said he would support a technocrat government and redouble his own efforts in parliament to modernise Italy.
However, Mr Berlusconi's main coalition ally, the Northern League, has withheld its support until Mr Monti's policies have become clear.
Mr Berlusconi, who had lost his parliamentary majority, resigned on Saturday after new austerity measures were passed by both houses of parliament.
In Brussels, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and EU President Herman Van Rompuy issued a joint statement welcoming Mr Monti's appointment.
It sent "a further encouraging signal... of the Italian authorities' determination to overcome the current crisis", they said.
The Commission, they added, would continue monitoring "the implementation of measures taken by Italy with the aim of pursuing policies that foster growth and employment".
Mr Monti's appointment comes two days after Greece, under even greater pressure from Brussels, inaugurated a technocrat government to cope with its debt problems.
Mr Monti, a well respected economist, is exactly the sort of man that the markets would like to see take charge at this time of crisis, says the BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome, and he has support in many quarters.
But there is significant opposition to him within the country, and a feeling that Italy's troubles are just too deep for a mere change of government to make any rapid, significant difference.
The austerity package foresees 59.8bn euros in savings from a mixture of spending cuts and tax rises, with the aim of balancing the budget by 2014. Measures include sales of state property, a freeze on public-sector salaries until 2014 and measures to fight widespread tax evasion.
The Italian economy has grown at an average of 0.75% a year over the past 15 years.
Mario Monti
- Born in 1943 in northern Italy
- Taught economics at Turin University for 15 years
- 1994-1999: EU commissioner for internal market
- 1999-2004: EU commissioner for competition
- Rector then president of top Bocconi University in Milan
- On 11 November 2011, sworn in as a senator for life
- 13 November: Nominated PM-designate
Analysis
Mario Monti did mention reservations, though it's not clear what he meant by that. He wants to provide an air of real sincerity about what is to come and his dedication to that. So we will see exactly what that means in terms of when he will go back to the president once he has eliminated those reservations.
He gave a rousing speech, which highlights what we have heard from either side of the political spectrum, that Italy is not essentially a financial disaster.
Mr Monti is hinting that he wants to restore Italy's reputation financially to match the size of its economy rather than the down talk about the credibility it has had over recent months.
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