Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti was expected to outline austerity measures aimed at restoring confidence in Italy’s strained public finances yesterday when he goes before the Senate to seek a vote of confidence in his new government.
The former European Commissioner, who took office on Wednesday, was scheduled to present his program in the Senate before a confidence vote in the evening. He will seek a separate vote of confidence in the lower house today.
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.
Photo: AFP
However, they will be vital to restoring credibility with international partners who had long lost patience with the repeatedly unfulfilled promises of Monti’s flamboyant 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 program on Wednesday, but the broad thrust of the measures is expected to match closely reform demands made by European authorities to Berlusconi’s center-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 party, but which unions and the left have urged repeatedly.
Monti said on Wednesday 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 over 7 percent, near the levels that forced Greece and Ireland to seek an international bailout, which would overwhelm the eurozone’s current financial defenses if it were needed by Italy, the bloc’s third largest economy.
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, who 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 and 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 could slip into recession next year will make it increasingly difficult to keep control of its huge public debt, which amounts to 120 percent of GDP, the second-highest in the eurozone behind Greece.
International authorities including the EU, the European Central Bank and the IMF 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.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the