Mario Monti replaced Silvio Berlusconi as Italy’s new prime minister and named himself finance minister in a new cabinet unveiled on Wednesday, tasked with saving the eurozone heavyweight from bankruptcy. Corrado Passera, chief executive of Italy’s biggest retail bank Intesa Sanpaolo, will also head up a reinforced economic development and infastructures ministry charged with boosting the anaemic growth rate.
Monti will be formally sworn in at 1600 GMT ahead of a handover ceremony with Berlusconi, the flamboyant tycoon who resigned on Saturday to cheering crowds in the streets after ruling for 10 of the past 17 years. A confidence vote in parliament expected as early as Thursday will then launch the new technocratic government, which will have to act fast to reassure the international community that Italy is serious about implementing reforms.
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 stave off bankruptcy and has called for “economic, social and civil growth.” Monti 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.