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Monti 'will not run in Italian election'
Source: Agencies |
November 21, 2011, Monday
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ITALY'S new technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti has agreed not to run as a candidate when elections are held, Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the center-right People of Freedom party (PDL), said in an interview published yesterday.
The former prime minister told the Corriere della Sera daily: "We asked him and all his ministers to pledge publicly to not to present themselves as candidates at the next elections."
Berlusconi said Monti had agreed to the request in the presence of the Italian president.
Monti was appointed last week to succeed Berlusconi, who lost his majority in parliament and stepped down under mounting pressure over Italy's worsening debt crisis. Monti, who also holds the economy portfolio, has outlined a series of painful reforms to shore up public finances and increase competitiveness after a decade of sluggish growth.
Berlusconi reiterated that Monti must be allowed to govern until 2013 but made it clear support from the PDL was conditional.
"Certainly if Monti takes measures that run against the line of the parties supporting him, such as a wealth tax, it will not be able to go ahead," he said.
The PDL, the biggest party in parliament, has opposed some key options in Monti's reform agenda, notably the levying of a wealth tax on privately held assets.
Berlusconi said his party had asked the Monti government to press for the transformation of the European Central Bank into a "guarantor of last instance" for the euro.
He said they had also asked for a commitment to review the European Union's banking regulations, claiming they are "suffocating Italian banks."
Monti, a former European Commissioner, has won the backing of all the main parties except the pro-devolution Northern League, Berlusconi's key partner in the outgoing coalition.
Berlusconi said he was sure it would be possible to maintain close ties with the Northern League.
The former prime minister told the Corriere della Sera daily: "We asked him and all his ministers to pledge publicly to not to present themselves as candidates at the next elections."
Berlusconi said Monti had agreed to the request in the presence of the Italian president.
Monti was appointed last week to succeed Berlusconi, who lost his majority in parliament and stepped down under mounting pressure over Italy's worsening debt crisis. Monti, who also holds the economy portfolio, has outlined a series of painful reforms to shore up public finances and increase competitiveness after a decade of sluggish growth.
Berlusconi reiterated that Monti must be allowed to govern until 2013 but made it clear support from the PDL was conditional.
"Certainly if Monti takes measures that run against the line of the parties supporting him, such as a wealth tax, it will not be able to go ahead," he said.
The PDL, the biggest party in parliament, has opposed some key options in Monti's reform agenda, notably the levying of a wealth tax on privately held assets.
Berlusconi said his party had asked the Monti government to press for the transformation of the European Central Bank into a "guarantor of last instance" for the euro.
He said they had also asked for a commitment to review the European Union's banking regulations, claiming they are "suffocating Italian banks."
Monti, a former European Commissioner, has won the backing of all the main parties except the pro-devolution Northern League, Berlusconi's key partner in the outgoing coalition.
Berlusconi said he was sure it would be possible to maintain close ties with the Northern League.
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