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| Italiano: Mario Monti ( |
Mario Monti (born 19 March 1943) is an Italian economist who has been the Prime Minister of Italy since 2011, leading a government of technocratsin the wake of the Italian debt crisis. Monti resigned as Prime Minister on 21 December 2012 after the passing of his second Budget, and will remain as a caretaker until a government following the 2013 election can be formed.
Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the Internal Market, Services, Customs and Taxation from 1995 to 1999 and for Competition from 1999 to 2004. Monti has also been Rector and President of Bocconi University in Milan for many years. On 12 November 2011, in the midst of the European sovereign debt crisis, Monti was invited by President Giorgio Napolitano to form a new technocratic government following the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi. Monti was sworn in as Prime Minister on 16 November 2011, just a week after having been appointed a Senator for Life by President Napolitano, and initially became Minister of Economy and Finance as well, giving that portfolio up the following July.
Early life
Monti was born in Varese on 19 March 1943.[2] His mother was from Piacenza. Although his father grew up in Varese, he was born in Luján in theBuenos Aires Province, Argentina, where his ancestors had emigrated to in the 19th century and built up a soft-drink and beer-production business.[3][4] Monti's father went back to Argentina during World War II, but later returned to his family home in Varese.[5]
Monti studied at the private Leo XIII High School and attended Bocconi University of Milan, where he obtained a degree in economics in 1965. Later, he won a scholarship to Yale University where he studied under James Tobin, a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics.[6][7]
Academic career
Monti began his academic career at the University of Trento, before moving to teach economics at the University of Turin from 1970 to 1985, and finally to Bocconi University, where he was appointed Rector in 1989, and President in 1994. He also served as President of the SUERF (The European Money and Finance Forum) from 1982 to 1985.[8] His research helped to create the "Klein-Monti model", aimed at describing the behaviour of banks operating under monopoly circumstances.[9]
2013 election
On 21 December 2012, Monti announced his resignation as Prime Minister, having made a public promise to step down after the passing of the 2012 Budget. He initially stated that he would only remain in office until an early election could be held.[46] However, on 28 December, he announced that he would seek to remain Prime Minister by contesting the election, as the leader of a centrist coalition, the Civic Choice.
The election was held on 24 February 2013, and Monti's centrist coalition was only able to come fourth, with 10.5% of the vote. As such, Monti will remain Prime Minister only until a governing coalition can be formed.
Think tanks
Monti actively participates in several major think tanks. He is a member of the Praesidium of Friends of Europe. He was the founding chairman of Bruegel, another European think tank, which was formed in 2005. He was the European Chairman of the Trilateral Commission until being sworn in as prime minister in 2011.[47]
Monti is a leading member of the exclusive Bilderberg Group.[48] He has also been an international advisor to Goldman Sachs[49] and The Coca-Cola Company.[50] He has also been a member of the "Senior European Advisory Council" of Moody's[51] and he is one of the members of the "Business and Economics Advisors Group" of the Atlantic Council.[52]
In 2007, Mario Monti was one of the first supporters of the first European civic forum, États Généraux de l'Europe, initiated by European think tank EuropaNova and European Movement. He was also a member of the French government's Attali Commission from 2007 to 2008,[6][53] appointed by Nicolas Sarkozy to provide recommendations to enhance economic growth in France.
Monti is a founding member of the Spinelli Group,[54] an organization launched in September 2010 to facilitate integration within the European Union (other members of the steering group includeJacques Delors, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Guy Verhofstadt, Andrew Duff and Elmar Brok).
Personal life
Since 1970 Monti has been married to Elsa Antonioli (born 1944),[55] an Italian Red Cross volunteer, by whom he has two children, Federica and Giovanni.[56]
Known for his reserved character, Monti acknowledges not being especially sociable.[57] He said that his youth was given over to hard study; spare-time activities included cycling and keeping up with world affairs by tuning in to foreign short-wave radio stations.[57]
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