Mario Monti was born in Varese, Lombardy. He is married with two children. He holds a degree in economics and management from Bocconi University, Milan. He completed graduate studies at Yale University, where he studied under James Tobin, the Nobel prize-winning economist.
He taught economics at the University of Turin (1970-85) before moving to the Bocconi University of Milan, of which he has been rector (1989-1994) and then president (since 1994). His researches have conducted to the Klein-Monti model, aimed at describing the behaviour of banks operating under monopoly circumstances.
November 6, 2011
Opponents Line Up Against Berlusconi
Rome, Italy, The future of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government is increasingly in doubt, as the country faces unprecedented international pressure to take credible steps to shoring up its flailing economy.
Mr. Berlusconi's parliamentary majority could fall apart as early as this week. Several once-faithful members of his party have threatened to vote against the government or abstain from voting on Tuesday during a scheduled ballot on budget matters in the lower house of Parliament.
Over the next few days, Mr. Berlusconi may also face a no-confidence vote, which—if the potential defectors stick to their guns— he could well lose, according to politicians on both sides of the spectrum.
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When a government loses its parliamentary majority in Italy, the way forward is either the formation of a shuffled administration, the formation of an interim so-called technical government charged with finishing urgent business, or new elections.
If early elections are called, it is unclear who will step up to challenge the premier. The left-wing opposition is in disarray, and a group of centrist forces also opposed to Mr. Berlusconi have a number of leaders who draw from disparate constituencies, ranging from pro-Vatican forces to secularist ones.
If a technical government is forged, many lawmakers have said former EU competition commissioner Mario Monti could be tapped to take the helm. Mr. Monti hasn't responded to requests for comment.
"I fear we no longer have a parliamentary majority," Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said on a popular Sunday evening television talk show. Mr. Maroni—a member of the Northern League, a partner in Mr. Berlusconi's ruling coalition—added that he would be in favor of elections.
Mr. Berlusconi has survived many scrapes during his 18 years in politics, and he may well survive what is shaping up to be the most dangerous upheaval in his ranks since he came to power for his latest term in 2008.
On Sunday night, the prime minister indicated he was trying to woo back his party's defectors, and rejected calls by political rivals for his resignation. "I am sorry to disappoint," Mr. Berlusconi said in a statement on Saturday. "But responsibility in the face of voters and the country requires…our government to continue this battle."
Even if the government holds on, it is becoming clearer that—with his parliamentary majority constantly in doubt and amid rising international criticism—Mr. Berlusconi no longer has the ability to make serious policy moves. That includes, crucially, taking the steps needed to remove Italy from the cross-hairs of the escalating European debt crisis.
Italy's problems are likely to be a focus of discussion at Monday's meeting of euro-zone finance ministers in Brussels.
"Mr. Berlusconi may still be in office, but he has not been in power for some time," said Nicholas Spiro, a London-based sovereign-debt consultant.
The timing of a possible new period of political instability is particularly delicate. Mr. Berlusconi has promised world leaders—most recently at the Group of 20 industrial and developing nations' summit in Cannes—that he would push through a major overhaul deemed necessary to reignite the euro-zone's third-largest economy after Germany and France and to lower its debt.
The measures are, in the short term, aimed at quelling market fears that Italy might be the next in line to need a bailout from its European partners. Because of Italy's size, any bailout would be far more serious than the troubles in Greece, and would put Europe's currency union to the test.
Still, European leaders thus far haven't been persuaded by the Italian leader's promises. At the G-20, they exhorted him to stick to his commitments, which include loosening Italy's strict labor code, lightening the state's pension load, and privatizing state assets, among other things. To make sure Italy is sticking to its pledge, officials from the International Monetary Fund are expected to arrive in Rome as early as Monday, according to people familiar with the matter, to oversee the efforts.
The announcement last Friday by the IMF that Italy will become the first Group of Eight nation in decades to come under the fund's oversight has delivered a further blow to Mr. Berlusconi's shaky governing coalition.
It has also given new impetus to his political rivals. Thousands of protesters marched through Rome on Saturday demanding his resignation and calling for new leadership to steer the country out of crisis.
Saturday's rally, organized by the leftist Democratic Party, the biggest opposition force, drew a sea of demonstrators waving multicolored flags and calling on the premier to step down.
Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani and other opposition leaders have met several times in recent days with President Giorgio Napolitano, Italy's head of state, to discuss the economic crisis as well as the political gridlock. Those talks are being closely watched, because Mr. Napolitano has the power to dissolve Parliament if it becomes clear Mr. Berlusconi no longer has a strong enough majority to govern.
In the wake of the protest in Rome, Mr. Berlusconi spoke on a telephone broadcast on Sunday to a political rally held by one of his allies. In the call, he said his party had counted its votes in Parliament "with precision in these very hours" to verify that his majority was secure.
"Our friends who are leaving the majority in this moment are carrying out an act of treachery. Not against us, but against the country," Mr. Berlusconi said.
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