Mario Monti to head new Italian Government

Economist Mario Monti replaced Silvio Berlusconi as Italy’s new prime minister on Wednesday 16 November 2011, tasked with saving Italy and the Eurozone from a crisis that has set off alarm bells around the world.

The 68-year-old ex-European Union commissioner formally accepted the nomination from President Giorgio Napolitano and was sworn in with a new cabinet comprised of non-political technical experts, while receiving an extremely wide consensus from both Parliament and Senate.

Monti seeks to build consensus within political circles and the public opinion that Italians will have to make sacrifices to revert the current course and restore the country’s credibility in Europe.