Just 48 hours after receiving a drubbing at the polls, outgoing Italian prime minister Mario Monti came to Brussels and delivered his first major address since the election, in which he issued a dire warning to other leaders attempting to reform their countries in the midst of a deepening recession: what just happened to me can happen to you.
Monti’s remarks, which appeared off the cuff, came at the end of a detailed review of Italian and EU competition policy as part of a conference Thursday hosted by Joaquin Almunia, one of Monti’s successors as EU competition commissioner.
Monti warned that because economies take a long time to grow after implementing tough austerity and economic reform measures, public opinion quickly turns against the policies and the result is “the coming up of political forces that, of course, oppose the right policies” – a not-so-veiled reference to the Five Star Movement of Italian populist Beppe Grillo, which well outpolled Monti’s coalition in this week’s vote. Read more